Summer's Soul In Flight

I left Mishka and MrQ looking after one another and had a blast up the A10 to Therfield Heath, Royston. I went to look specifically for an Adonis blue butterfly for my personal coronation invitation challenge. Mad dogs and MsQ go out in the midday sun in a heatwave. The sunshine was reflecting blindingly off the chalk. I didn't see a single walker or any dogs.

Quite early on in my search I found a lone female Adonis blue, extras, which gave me hope. I climbed the very steep Church Hill where I found small heaths, meadow browns and marbled whites. (I spotted my first meadow brown of 2023 at home this morning.) A man walked towards me out of the woods. Turns out he was a butterfly expert. He said that the Adonis blues are between broods and he hadn't seen any for a while. He told me about a steep route down from the hill where he had seen dark green fritillaries in the past. I took what I thought was his route. It was so steep that I kept losing my footing, quite dangerous actually. I met him again and he was shocked that I'd come down that way, it wasn't the route he meant. He wanted to know exactly where I had found my female Adonis blue and we walked back that way together. 

A skylark that was singing from a post caught my attention. It's the first time I've heard one singing from a perch. What long rear-facing claws it has. (Extras) I'm glad I stopped to photograph the bird as I spotted a male Adonis blue nearby.