Small Skipper

Discovered a fantastic meadow today with lovely long grass, thistles galore, wildflowers and butterflies everywhere. And best of all it's right on my doorstep! Or next door to my allotment to be more precise. From the allotment I can only see an overgrown gateway, but walking past the meadow yesterday from a direction I don't normally go, I realised it had gone from grassland with cows, to this wonderful wildlife haven.
I made a point of going there today to explore the wildlife further, with sons #2&3. What a wonderful hour we had there. Thistles taller than me, grass taller than the boys, the sun shining. Bliss! And yet we were next to a busy garage and main road on the edge of town, bizarre!
We submitted another record to the Big Butterfly Count as we saw about 8 different species! I haven't seen that many butterflies for a long time. We were darting about the field hunting them down to try and identify them, it was great fun for the boys. The people in the garage must have wondered what on earth we were up too!
Hoping to spend many more happy hours there during this fantastic summer!