peacocks

Its hard to get motivated to do much in this hot weather but a butterfly hunt seemed a good idea. So off we went to a disused quarry just 20 minutes from home. Its was our first visit to what is the first Butterfly Nature Reserve in Derbyshire and it was very hard to find even though we know the area. I'm not great at ID butterflies but with the help of the big butterfly count sheet I was able to identify comma, gatekeeper, peacock, red admiral, ringlet, small skipper and small tortoiseshell all within a short walk. It was great fun trying to follow them waiting for them to settle and get a photo.
The quarry is apparently the best area in the county for the Wall butterfly which has declined rapidly. Unfortunately we didn't see one but we were told that the second brood are due in the next 2 weeks so I think I might be taking a trip back there.
I dropped a phot of a red admiral and profile of a small tortoiseshell that I quite liked in extras.