Sunday 20 June 2010

Small skipper

A small skipper Thymelicus sylvestris visited the garden today. It was particularly interested in the watering can, but it did settle on the gooseberry for a couple of minutes before returning to its favourite spot.

Although the small skipper is a new species for Frog End it's been a pretty poor year for butterflies in general. Although it's difficult to go outdoors without spotting a speckled wood there have been very few other species about - probably a result of the wet summer we had last year. If the moth caterpillars are anything to go by then this sunny weather should result in a boom in the population of some species at least.



5 comments:

holdingmoments said...

Cracking shots Helen.
I've noticed Butterfly numbers seem to be down this year too.

Scriptor Senex said...

We also have lots of Speckled Woods (always our most common species but even more numerous this year) but virtually nothing else. Even whites are absent.

Helen said...

We do have a few whites - mostly laying eggs on the sweet rocket, but not so many as either of the last two years.

Graham Edwards said...

Oddly I thought that, given the cold weather here, we've had quite a few albeit mainly whites.

Amila Kanchana said...

Hairy butterfly! Nice detailed images. It's butterfly high season here in Sri Lanka,very much better than last year, lots of various kinds fluttering around.