Rustington Museum, Mill Hill Grizzlies, Plaice and blanc.

Yesterday I took Bea to Rustington for a tour of the charity shops. We toured the Rustington Museum where a local metal detectorist has donated a case of interesting finds from all periods, very well labelled and displayed. Coffee in the garden was very enjoyable

When we returned to the car park I found a Morris Minor in front of my car which took me back to my childhood. Dad’s Morris Minor was NYL31, he paid £325 for it and sold it for £275.

The beautiful weather forced me out to Mill Hill after lunch to search for the Grizzled Skippers that Neil Hulme had reported last week on the BC Sussex sightings page. 

At the bottom of the slope I found BC members Neil, Tom Ottley, Bob Eade and Simon Quin clustered round a pair of mating Grizzlies! The female was dark and had only just emerged. Thanks to these experienced butterfly hunters I was able to photograph other grizzlies as well during the afternoon.

We kept them shaded so they would stay still and fold their wings for underside shots. A very satisfying afternoon resulting in 330 photos which I spent the next hour editing. Violets were everywhere and there were several of the pretty small moth Pyrausta nigrata (above).

Jackie joined us for a meal at The Fish Factory which we all rated highly. The fish was excellent as was the Sauvignon Blanc (Jackson Estate, Marlborough, NZ).