Common blues.. on the wrong side of the blanket

Today I thought I’d go to the New Forest.  It felt a bit greedy after my day out yesterday, but when I got to the station I discovered no trains were running anyway (a partial derailment outside Waterloo) and the advice was not to travel.  So I went out to St Cross then walked home over St Catherine’s Hill.
 
The Hill was covered in harebells, scabious and vetches and smothered in butterflies.  Mostly browns and blues: meadow browns, chalkhill blues (which I have blipped this year) and common blues (which I hadn’t until today).  St Catherine’s is a very steep hill.  I had a rest at the top and a closer look at life in the grasses.  This pair of lovers were at it on a grass stalk.  I put my lens cloth underneath, hoping to get a clean background and hey presto, they decided it was a better surface to hold on to.
 
Do you know how long it takes the little beggars?  They were at it for ever, while I hummed and drummed my fingers and told them a joke about the wrong side of the blanket, but it made no difference.  In the end I had to very carefully tip them off, as I didn’t fancy leaving the lens cloth behind.
 
The male is wonderfully tattered.  The female is the brown one.  Interestingly there were none of the really big bright butterflies up the hill, though at the bottom I did see a comma and 4 admirals, so they are still around.
 
That’s me for today.  Happy Tuesday evening  xx

Many thanks to Osuzanna for hosting TT this month