i was only saying yesterday...

...how popular the field scabious is with the insects at the moment.

It is a beautiful day, today, though it was surprisingly cool first thing. This afternoon, we repeated our Ballard Down walk of yesterday as there are so many butterflies and other interesting invertebrates to be found there. Where we go, is south facing, full of wild flowers (and delicious blackberries) and very sheltered. We often see foxes at close quarter here, and always see kestrels and buzzards.

This afternoon, there were several small copper butterflies in excellent condition, which I thought would be today's blip. There were also plenty of commas, red admirals, and small heaths. Then my eye was caught by a sun hoverfly, footballer, or more accurately Helophilus pendulus. This was on my list as a potential post to show how different it is from yesterday's marmalade hoverfly.

However, it was the sudden arrival of this Clouded Yellow, Colias croceus, which looked just stunning when it landed on the scabious, that impressed me the most because it is the first one I have managed to photograph in the UK this year. This regular visitor to the British Isles is migratory from mainland Europe. Some of these impressive butterflies are seen every year, but occasionally there are mass immigrations that are remembered as "Clouded Yellow Years"...