{"id":21243,"date":"2014-07-14T00:21:34","date_gmt":"2014-07-13T23:21:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/?p=21243"},"modified":"2014-07-14T00:21:34","modified_gmt":"2014-07-13T23:21:34","slug":"castle-hill-butterflies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/castle-hill-butterflies\/","title":{"rendered":"Castle Hill Butterflies"},"content":{"rendered":"

I made the most of the afternoon sun and headed over to Castle Hill nature reserve, a local downland site which is a haven for butterflies. There were numerous species in evidence, including peacock butterflies, gatekeepers, common blues, innumerable meadow browns. Plus the ones that I actually got around to photographing.<\/p>\n

Marbled whites were everywhere, dusting the long grasses with their delicately laced wings. The first photo shows one alongside some six-spot burnet moths (one of our few day-flying species of moth).<\/p>\n

\"Marbled<\/a><\/p>\n

And a couple of close-ups of a marbled white.<\/p>\n

\"Marbled<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Butterfly\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I noticed plenty of ragwort as I walked the paths. Ragwort is generally seen as invasive and can be toxic to some animals (horses, in particular). It’s often cleared, but it’s native and is a primary food-source for the cinnabar caterpillar. Several can be seen here in various stages of development.<\/p>\n

\"Cinnabar<\/a><\/p>\n

Now for one that I am struggling to identify. I think it may be one of the many varieties of fritillary (please correct me if I’m wrong).<\/p>\n

\"Fritillary<\/a><\/p>\n

The next photo isn’t perfect, but I am fairly sure it’s a chalkhill blue.<\/p>\n

\"Chalkhill<\/a><\/p>\n

And this one I do know. It’s a small skipper, with its tongue tightly curled.<\/p>\n

\"Small<\/a><\/p>\n

Camera note: Chalkhill blue and first of the three marbled white photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 400mm f\/5.6L USM lens. Everything else was with the EF 100mm f\/2.8L macro IS USM lens.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I made the most of the afternoon sun and headed over to Castle Hill nature reserve, a local downland site which is a haven for butterflies. There were numerous species in evidence, including peacock butterflies, gatekeepers, common blues, innumerable meadow browns. Plus the ones that I actually got around to photographing. Marbled whites were everywhere, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[992,991,251],"tags":[1144,1162],"class_list":["post-21243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-butterfly-insects-2","category-insects-2","category-moth","tag-butterfly","tag-moth","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t