A Buddleja for a change!

It took me a long time to identify the butterfly on the buddleja this morning as I have never seen its like before. It turns out to be the same butterfly as the one I blipped last Saturday, the intensely orange Silver-Washed Fritillary. It's a rare form of the female called valesina. Apparently the more marked silver colouring is caused by a dominant gene, but it is rarely seen as females this colour are much less likely to make it to maturity. So says google, so there!

And another first sighting in the extra, a female White-Legged Damselfly that landed on the chair in front of me. It's only about 4cm long, and almost totally transparent when it flies, except it sparkles in the light.

We are so glad to be in peaceful shade in our garden on this sunny day, after getting seriously overheated and overcrowded at Hampton Court yesterday.