Spotting small differences

Bat helpline craziness followed by a morning at work followed by a lovely afternoon on the reserve with Anne. The butterflies rose in clouds when disturbed and the hill was absolutely alive. I reached a new level of geekery by spotting that this lady was different from most of the other tiny orange skippers covering every flower. My first Essex Skipper. We sat staring at her through binoculars from about a metre away (as butterflying types do) and comparing photos to those on several apps. I was sure she was Essex but never having seen one doubted myself. ID confirmed by a very clever person on a forum this morning, I am ridiculously happy about this.

When they occur they're not uncommon but they aren't easy to distinguish from Small Skippers.

Thats my 'life list' up to 45 species and 'year list' to 34.