Duke of Burgundy

My husband was off work the other week, so I made sure we went out. That may sound entirely normal, but then our lifestyle is far from being normal. I can recall entire years, maybe even two or three when we haven’t been out at all. There is always so much to do at home. Since taking early retirement, I try my best, but things like trimming our enormous hedge and filling a skip are things I simply can’t do. We went out the other week though. Three times!

We chose the warmest day to make a trip to Noar Hill in the hope of seeing lots of butterflies. Not only ordinary butterflies though, but also the rare Duke of Burgundy. We left as early as possible, but the M25 was a nightmare and we didn’t arrive until nearly lunchtime. We dragged ourselves up the hill in the oppressive heat and entered the reserve to be met by… not a single butterfly. We wandered along, only catching sight of the odd cabbage white or orange tip and they weren’t stopping to be photographed. By the time we got to the far end, I had taken nothing, so we sat down on the grass to have a snack.

Another couple walked past and we exchanged pleasantries. They asked if we were there for the Dukes and I replied not exclusively, but we had seen nothing anyway. It was then we were told that butterflies hide up in the heat and I felt foolish for driving so far for nothing. However, the lady said they had already seen eight of the rare butterflies and another gentleman they had chatted to had seen twenty. She told us to look for small butterflies very near to the ground before wishing us luck and leaving.

After lunch we tried again. I started looking in my favourite meadow and eventually, I found a small brown butterfly in the sun. Thinking this was better than nothing, I sat down and fired off a few shots. Checking the display to see if the focus was good, I suddenly realised I had stumbled across a Duke of Burgundy by sheer accident. Once I had seen one, we found many more and the images here are the best from the afternoon.