Dark Green Fritillaries and Painted Lady

male Dark Green Fritillary, Argynnis aglaja

to view a gallery with more photos, click here

Last Thursday on Mill Hill the Marjoram and Hemp Agrimony at the top of the hill were covered in Peacocks, Red Admirals, a Painted Lady and a male and female Dark Green Fritillary. I have only recorded one DGF in the previous 4 years and wonder where they have come from. Moths: Lime-speck Pug larva on Knapweed (Eupithecia centaureata), many Silver Ys and Six-spot Burnets, Small Purple and Gold, Straw-barred Pearl. My count: Chalkhill Blue 31, Comma, Common Blue, Dark Green Fritillary 2, Essex Skipper, Gatekeeper 73, Green-veined White 3, Large Skipper, Large White, Marbled White 11, Meadow Brown 40, Painted Lady, Peacock 6, Red Admiral 8, Small Skipper, Small Tortoiseshell, Small White 4.
  The following day we called in at Woods Mill and I saw a Water Rail from the bridge.

late note: I originally misidentified a female Common Blue as a Brown Argus, thanks to my colleague Mark for pointing out my misdemeanour!

Bird's-foot Trefoil, Lotus corniculatus

Chalkhill Blue, Lysandra coridon

female Common Blue, Polyommatus icarus

Comma, Polygonia c-album

Common Restharrow, Ononis repens

Common Shrew, Sorex araneus

female Dark Bush Cricket, Pholidoptera griseoaptera 

female Dark Green Fritillary, Argynnis aglaja

Essex Skipper, Thymelicus lineola

Field Bindweed, Convolvulus arvensis

Field Scabius, Knautia arvensis

white form of Greater Knapweed, Centaurea scabiosa

Greater Knapweed

Lady's Bedstraw, Galium verum

Lime-speck Pug larva, Eupithecia centaureata

Mill Hill views

Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui

Peacock, Inachis io

Peacock

Pyramidal Orchid, Anacamptis pyramidalis

Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta

Red Admiral

Silver Y, Autographa gamma

Six-Spot Burnet, Zygaena filipendulae

Six-Spot Burnet

Small Purple and Gold, Pyrausta aurata

Small Skipper, Thymelicus sylvestris

Straw-barred Pearl, Pyrausta despicata

Woods Mill:

Water Rail, Rallus aquaticus