Small Skipper

Its been another very hot day so I decided to go down to Bushy Park again. Annoyingly, upon arrival in the park, I noticed I had forgotten my bike lock. No matter, I would just have to take my bike with me today. Due to this slight problem, I decided to watch for wildlife in the vast extent of grassland, where there was sure to be much less people around to get in the way.

Leaving the main path onto a grassy track, and the noise of playing children was replaced by the sounds of Grasshoppers, Meadow Pipits, Skylarks and a beautiful singing male Stonechat....

A male Meadow Pipit in song flight, twirling as it dives down to Earth...

A noisy Grasshopper... or it a Cricket, I think its a Cricket isn't it?

Butterflies were very abundant in the dead grass, as I cycled through, Ringlet and Meadow Brown fluttered between the spokes of my wheels. However, there was one butterfly that I was really hoping to photograph... the Small Skipper. I had spotted one of two Skippers in the distance as I cycled, but hardly ever very close and never close enough for a shot.

My luck was going to change though... as I watched a Meadow Brown pass by a small orange blur sped past and landed on a fern. Reaching for the camera, I took a shot but accidentally disturbed it in the process and it flew off...

I cycled after it and was soon face to face with about 10 Small Skippers chasing one another! One pair were displaying...

Then one of the pair flew to the ground and perched on a blade of grass, posing beautifully for the camera... you can tell it is Small Skipper by the slight black outline on the edge of the every wing.

Another one Skipper landed on a fern and perched there long enough for me to get a shot of its underwing...

Its safe to say I hit the Jackpot!!