The Saffron Butterfly

Morning walk with the spaniel up the steep chalk path to Blackcap and then down into Ashcombe Bottom. I counted 16 species, not bad for a cloudy and blustery day, but all the excitement was in the first ten minutes. A Hummingbird Hawkmoth was zipping up and down the path and I was trying to photograph it when I saw something dark yellow flutter past - it was my first Clouded Yellow of the year, rapidly followed by my second Clouded Yellow of the year. Always a thrill to see this  species (I can still remember exactly where I saw my first one) which migrates all the way from southern Europe in very variable numbers. It brings my species count to 39 so far. 

For once I think Petiver (in 1703) actually coined a better name. He called it the Saffron Butterfly. Clouded Yellow came in 1742 from Wilkes. Other suggestions have included Clouded Orange (1795), Clouded Saffron (1832) and Spotted Saffron (1913).