Small butterfly...big recovery

It was a good afternoon for butterflies at the nature reserve. I was pleased to see a number of Small Blues still on the wing when I was counting bee orchids in our chalk pits (a phenomenal 72 - the most I've ever counted there!). I saw mostly females, unlike a few weeks ago when the place was alive with displaying and fighting males. This summer has really seen the population swell after a couple of years when we saw the return of just one or two individuals to this site after a lengthy absence. Here you see a female Small Blue doing just what she's supposed to do - laying eggs into a flower head of Kidney Vetch.

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