Pearls

A small pearl bordered fritillary perched on the seeding inflorescence of blue moor grass. The photo was taken this evening as Gus and I climbed up onto the top of Arnside Knott. There were quite a few butterflies flying low over the grass, the males looking for newly emerged females perhaps. It was still warm, but this one at least was more approachable than I expected.

The butterfly is named for the string of pearls along the outer edge of the underside of the hindwing. This species flies a week or two earlier than the related pearl bordered fritillary which is also found on the Knott (though so far un-photographed by me). They are hard to tell apart from the upper side, but in a view like this they are easily separated. This species has a more colourful mosaic of distinct shapes, including the bulls-eye marking shown dead centre in this photo.

This wasn't the prize I was hoping to blip this evening. A little later a tawny owl flew across me into deep cover, pursued by loudly clucking blackbirds. Then I heard the unmistakable sound of calling owlets, what David Attenborough on Tweet of the Day described as a 'wheezing in the woods'. I did catch sight of one of them perched on a wall, and I have a very blurry, and totally unrecognisable photo to fail to prove it. Gus and I waited for a few minutes to get a better view, but alas, we were not in luck.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, I found Reggie the escapologist tortoise loose in the garden, having broken out of his pen yet again.