Glanvilles

Plenty of Glanville Fritillary flying today at Hutchinsons Bank, 30+ at least. here are a couple of butterflies male [bottom] and Female [top]
If there is good weather over the weekend there should be lots about hopefully for the two walks on the site.

Surrey's Glanvilles on the Wing

Our colony of Glanville Fritillaries are flying at Hutchinsons Bank for the next few weeks, they started to hatch exactly the same weekend as on the Isle of Wight. At the moment Hutchinsons Bank is the only colony of this rare butterfly on the UK mainland.

Duke of Burgundy Noar Hill

Jenny and I made a dash to Noar Hill Selbourne to see the Duke of Burgundy. I havn't visited the site for many years, the last trip it was closed due to Foot & Mouth Outbreak. It was dull and quite cold when we arrived. No butterflies were seen, but a Early Purple Orchid was in full flower.

After a break for Lunch the sum came out for an hour, and within a few minutes we found our first male Duke.

Later a darker male flew past up the face of the hollow and i found it just over the top settled on a Cowslip flower.

In another hollow i managed to find a Dingy Skipper.

It was good to see the Dukes in good numbers on a dull cold day, in the warm sunshine they would have been around in numbers.