Did you take part in the Big Butterfly Count 2020?

I've just realised that I had started this post at the end of July and never published it (where has the time gone!) so with a bit of a tweak here it is!

The Big Butterfly Count organised by the Butterfly Conservation Trust began on Saturday 17th July and ran until Sunday 9th August. 

Here are a few of the butterflies I have seen recently, mostly in and around Combe St Nicholas and been able to photograph with my phone. Some of them are notoriously tricky though as they barely land.

Marbled whites, which particularly like tall grassy unfertilised areas, are on the wing at the moment.

Watch out for them flying over the mound at Underway Meade.

The first picture shows the underside and the second one the open wings from above.

The beautiful comma butterfly with its distinctive scalloped wings is often seen on woodland edges and feeding, as here, on blackberry flowers and they will also feed on rotting fruit in gardens later in the season. 

This one below though was probably trying to find minerals and salts from the road surface which it needs to find in order to maintain a healthy life and which it can't get from nectar.

There were large numbers of Gatekeeper this summer and plenty in Underway Meade along the woodland edge. Often mistaken for Meadow Brown, it has orange patches on both fore and rear wings. It also has the double white pupils in the eye spot which distinguishes it.

An easier butterfly to identify which is also on the wing now is the Speckled Wood. They appear as early as march when they tend to be paler and then right through to October when they appear darker. As the name suggests, they like woodland and again are found in good numbers in the meade.

I have seen a few Small Tortoiseshells this summer but not as many as usual. They are colourful butterflies and can be mistaken for painted Ladies but haven't got the dark patch in the end of the wing.

Watch out too for Peacock butterflies, especially on sunny days, feeding on buddleia, so well named with their big eyes like on a peacock wing!

Whilst butterflies are colourful this summer has seen an influx of Jersey Tiger Moths and they are beautiful when in flight with their bright orange underwings. When they settle they are also beautiful with striking black and white pattern on the upper wings.

I was lucky to also get this photo of the underside of the Jersey Tiger moth when It landed on our front window!