Speckled wood

Oh my goodness, I have been wasting so much time photographing churches recently I seem to have forgotten my first love......insects.
To be fair, I think this year has been pretty abysmal as far as insects are concerned, but none the less that is no great excuse so today I made a real effort.
I went to the wonderful Southwater woods briefly, but everthing is looking really, really over, I felt like it needs to be autumn now so we can quickly get the horrible winter days over! 
The Wild mint was however still flowering, (though not crawling with insects as it usually is), and this lovely Speckled wood butterfly Pararge aegeria, was flitting between nectaring on it and basking on the bracken.
I quite like these common little butterflies, speckled to stay hidden in woodland glades in the dappled sunlight, although this one was looking a little old and jaded, just like the rest of the woodland!