Butterfly update

Still a little short on species this year with no Green Veined Whites seen, no reappearance of the Silver Washed Fritillary, Holly Blue only a probable and not confirmed, no Red Admiral. I thought I had recorded Essex Skipper last week but a closer look at the photographs (above) has the two sitting atop a grass stem as Small Skippers as that glossy black underside of the antennae is not there. Still the big numbers of Marbled Whites does compensate to a great extent as they are the iconic Monmouthshire Meadows butterfly.