White Letter Day Again

A belated Father's Day outing, this sunny Sunday, with my favourite son and favourite granddaughter (I have only one of each, so no favouritism) was full of delights – and among them was a glorious profusion of butterflies. Marbled whites, ringlets, meadow browns and skippers were everywhere, flying in such numbers as I've rarely seen since the butterfly-rich days of my youth. It just goes to show what wonders a sustained spell of dry sunny weather at this time of year can work, even after such a late and shaky start as this butterfly season had. What's more, we spotted what looked very much like a dark green fritillary flying, fast and straight, overhead – and a little later, by way of a grand climax, a white-letter hairstreak flew down and posed briefly on a leaf, its wings neatly folded to show their beautiful markings. This happened just yards from my last encounter with this oh so elusive species. Truly a magical day.