Heath fritillary in the rain

The weather continues to make bug photography difficult this year. I used to have a fairly fixed routine of the notable insects and would visit when they were at their best. Familiar places stirring happy memories, but this year I have missed out on so many.

I never went on the three-hour round trip to Denge woods to see the rare Duke of Burgundy butterfly. I tried in vain to spot any beautiful demoiselles at our local country park, but there seemed to be none this year. I did manage a trip to a local golf course, where dark green fritillaries and marbled whites normally fly in great numbers. As I arrived, I got talking to a lovely gentleman who was there with a pair of binoculars. I must admit, that although he said he hadn’t seen any, I was a bit more positive and went to look anyway. He tagged along and after a fruitless 30 minutes, I finally spotted two fritillaries fighting over the top of the long grass. They must have been at least 50 yards away and within moments, both had dived into the grass and vanished.

We watched for about two hours and the same thing happened a few more times. Instead of flying up and down the mown track, or sometimes landing on a nearby flower to feed, they all remained out of view and deep in the grass. At least I made a new friend that day because I arrived back home with no photographs at all.

I did eventually make the long drive to Blean woods for the rare heath fritillaries. I parked in my usual spot and decided to walk the familiar rectangle so I didn’t get lost. I had perhaps wandered 100 yards and turned the first corner, when the sky started to turn very dark. As the rain began, I found one lovely little butterfly on a tiny yellow flower. In spite of the very poor light, I fired off a few shots at ISO 3200 before the rain got much worse.

Having nowhere to go, I put my camera in what I believed to be my waterproof rucksack and took shelter under a nearby tree. After about 30 minutes, I was soaked through to the skin and it was still raining, so I gave up and made my way back to the car. Everything was soaked and my camera was sitting in a small puddle in the central compartment of my rucksack. The cardboard box containing my spare batteries was ruined and I began to realise I had been bitten very badly.

I rang my husband in tears and he told me to come home, but something made me stop. I knew there was a butterfly in the woods that I could work with. He was still perched on the flower when I had last seen him. I pulled on the wellies I always keep in the back of my little car, plus a fleece to protect me from further insect bites. By the time I got back to the first corner, it was more than 75 minutes since I had taken that first image, but the butterfly was still there! Laying down in a muddy puddle, I took the photograph you can see below. The first image is featured at the top.