Meadow Browns, a Roe Deer and a Holly Blue

Roe Deer, Capreolus capreolus

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Following Monday’s experience with the valesina form of the Silver-washed Fritillary, I returned to Southwater Woods yesterday. The weather had changed, no longer an oppressive heat but cloudy and cooler.

As I walked along the path from the master oak I was messing about with my camera controls and looked up and saw a Roe Deer trotting across the path from right to left. There was no time to get a shot before it disappeared into the woodland. When I looked at my photos at home I found a lop-sided shot of the deer facing the opposite way to where it had moved, so it must have been taken before I thought I saw it! I suspect I saw it, pointed the camera and shot without using the viewfinder, then watched it trot across the path before i could take a controlled shot.

I found a pair of Peacocks on a path and Meadow Browns mating on a tree, a Holly Blue nectaring on brambles and Small Whites laying eggs.

Afterwards I joined Mark at Bridge Road, Littlehampton but we found no White-letter Hairstreaks there or by the golf course, probably due to the wind and lack of sun.

Holly Blue, Celastrina argiolus

Holly Blue take-off

female Large Skipper, Ochlodes sylvanus

Meadow Browns mating, Maniola jurtina

Meadow Browns mating, Maniola jurtina

Peacock, Inachis io

Peacocks 

female Silver-washed Fritillary, Argynnis paphia

White Admiral, Limenitis camilla

Small White egg, Pieris rapae

Small White egg, Pieris rapae