Topic: Small copper
The Mounts, Summer 2019
In July the birds go quiet and birdwatchers become butterfly watchers. The Mounts are an old clay quarry, rubbish dump, school playing fields, and now a sort of unofficial park where people walk their dogs among the overgrown grass. The numerous thistle flowers usually bring in the butterflies at this time of year, and in the good weather they didn't disappoint - although there were far fewer speckled woods this year, we saw lots of painted ladies. The latter we usually see one every couple of year; this time we saw them so often we could tell they must have bred. And as well as the usual meadow browns, gatekeepers and commas, we saw a small copper which is apparently quite rare!