Resting on a dull afternoon

It was surprisingly wet first thing this morning, so our fieldwork was postponed until tomorrow. So most of the day was spent at the computer, entering data and designing posters for the our local Wildlife Trust's autumn and winter talks. By mid afternoon I was getting a bit stir crazy, so decided to head out to find some seeds to enrich our meadow which is nicely short and gappy at the moment, perfect conditions for germination of wildflowers.

I ended up at Barnack Hills and Holes where I found seeds of greater knapweed, hairy hawkbit, small scabious and dropwort - all species that could potentially grow on our lime-rich clay - although quite a few other species had already shed theirs. I got a bit distracted by eyebrights and now need to make a return visit to see how many species and hybrids are actually present.

I was rather surprised to put up a solitary male chalkhill blue. I thought that they'd be over as there were hardly any flowers remaining to provide them with nectar, but this one looked quite fresh. The weather was cool and very overcast so it fluttered for a moment and then promptly roosted on a dead stem and allowed me to approach very closely with my macro lens. It had to be my blip as it may well be the only chalkhill blue I see this year! Not long after this was taken it started to rain again so I beat a hasty retreat.