I took this photo of a "Ringlet" when I visited a local butterfly 'hotspot' during my bike ride yesterday.
It's pretty clear where it got that name; the male's top side is a dark plain-chocolate brown with more of these little circles.
Since I heard on the grapevine that we might expect an influx of Large Tortoiseshell butterflies from southern and eastern Europe this summer (normally one of the rarest types you could hope to see in the UK) I thought I might keep a record here of anything unusual I get on our buddleia bushes, or even at the local RSPB reserve; maybe some of the more usual stuff, too.
If you want to, please post pics or descriptions of what you see locally, I'd like to know about it.
If this proves the roaring success we all expect (
) then I might do moths as well, except I'll have to stay off the beer and go out at night for that. Did you know that moths like beer too? Another story...