Little and large

I visited nearby nature reserves Grangelands and The Rifle Range in search of Silver-spotted Skipper that was reported over the weekend. I had no luck in the howling wind and frequent heavy showers, but was completely entranced by thousands of Chalkhill Blues on the wing (or at least being blown about!). Getting good photos of butterflies was very difficult so I turned to something completely stationary - one of the many empty shells of the Roman Snail, Helix pomatia, that are scattered across the chalk grassland at these sites. Here it is alongside one of the more normal sized snails to be found on the thin soils here.