Bonanza

After a late change of plans this afternoon turned into an autumnal butterfly bonanza.

I'd been intending to go over to Guiseley for a Vixens match but just as I was about to set off a friend texted to say it had been called off (which they'd discovered only by arriving at the ground), so I decided to just stick with a local walk and headed along to Moorside and down to Tong Park instead.

It was a sunny afternoon, and in some of the sheltered meadows around the edge of the woods it soon became apparent that it was going to be a better than average butterfly day.  Comma (10) and Small Copper (20+) were particularly numerous, suggesting that the warm summer may have been good for autumn broods. Indeed I've never seen so many Small Copper in one spot or one day before. There were also plenty of Speckled Wood and Red Admiral, a few Small Tortoiseshell and Small White and single Green-veined White and Painted Lady (pictured). Blackberries, Devils-bit Scabious and Ragwort were the the food sources of choice. I've put a few more pictures on Twitter.

It was also a good day for dragonflies, with Southern Hawker, Brown Hawker, Common Darter and Common Blue Damselfly about. And I finished witha 7-spot Ladybird.