Meadow Brown © Harry Mole 2017

I spent the weekend camping at Chiddingly in East Sussex. It was beautiful with blue skies at temperatures well into the 30s. There were Meadow Browns (Maniola jurtina) everywhere. To my mind they’re not a very exciting, interesting or beautiful species, but to see a few hundred at once is pretty special. This one flew into my tent and there were lots of mating pairs (as below). Alfie and I also saw Large Skippers (Ochlodes sylvanus) and Speckled Woods (Pararge aegeria), but the piece de resistance was a Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus) which is interesting, beautiful and exciting. Clouded Yellows don’t breed here, so if you find one it’s crossed the channel where they’re very widespread. I chased this one round a field with my camera for 15 minutes hoping it would pose for a photo, but no luck.

Meadow Brown © Harry Mole 2017