Green

 Events and sheer busyness have somewhat disturbed the wonted tenor of my butterfly year, but this sunny morning I grabbed the opportunity to pay a quick visit to a favourite patch of Surrey (suburban) downland. As ever, there were Brimstones wherever the eye turned, many of them on this occasion engaged in sparring or courtship (which, for one pair, involved a remarkable display of flying backwards). Plenty of Speckled Woods too, and a few Orange Tips (they seem to be doing better in Mercian parts than down South this year), a couple of Peacocks, and lots of very blue Holly Blues... I was hoping to achieve the great spring hat trick of Dingy Skipper, Grizzled Skipper and Green Hairstreak. In the event, however, only the last of these was in evidence this morning – but the little green beauties were flying in greater numbers than I can recall seeing there or anywhere else before (all the Hairstreaks seem to be doing well, which is great news for a Hairstreak obsessive like me). And they were lively today, with much high-speed chasing and aerial scrapping going on. It was a joy to see them, as ever – a welcome foretaste, I hope, of a fine butterfly year to come.