Butterflies

Steve Suttill writes, "We saw plenty of butterflies on our walk along the coast from Camas nan Geall on the one sunny day last week. The only dark green fritillary was this very tatty specimen but there were plenty of meadow browns, some whites, the odd common blue, and a painted lady."

Steve's colleague at work tells him that his dark green fritillary is a male. The female....

....is darker and has white spots along the trailing edge of her wing. This one was photographed on a  day when there was a stiff breeze, and she was reluctant to emerge from the tangle of vegetation where she was sheltering. One imagines that this is exactly the sort of place that butterflies resort to in the current conditions.

Steve's dark green fritillary isn't the only butterfly looking the worse for wear. This common blue was flying along the Ormsaigbeg road. It's a male, and his finery is distinctly tatty.

As Steve says, meadow browns are probably the most common butterflies at the moment, though they're difficult to spot when....

....they lie on the ground and fold their wings.

Many thanks to Steve for his photograph and comments.