Owls and Butterflies

The slopes of the dunes were unbearable, especially on an empty stomach; and what ought have been a floral survey quickly turned into a litany of life at eye level, excluding anything that failed to grow above the height of a knee.

So butterflies were on the menu again today and within minutes I had located the familar bounce and flutter of the Meadow Brown, which at rest resembles an owl, on account of its curved wings and eye spots. The Browns have an egregious, evolutionary trait that renders them permanently twitchy. Bounding over grass like notes on a stave, they momentarily stop for breath before bouncing off again, leaving camera-laden Ecologists perpetually frustrated, and invariably, with a series of blurred images to mull over at a later date.

On this occasion however, I caught an off-guard female sunning herself on bramble. A school girl error on her part! Bramble, of all plants; like finding a Brit on a Spanish beach! My delight was ineffable and ephemeral, as she soon heard the rumble of my vacuous stomach and fluttered her way to another, less conspicuous, sun trap.

The second photo is of a Small Heath. Populations have declined over 50% in 30 years and the species is included on many local Biodiveristy Action Plans to protect them. Difficult to pick out when resting the Small Heath is easy to distinguish from other butterflies by its drunken flight, bobbing and flopping inches from the ground.