Doings: Sun July 9th

Rather too windy over much of the Empire. Yet another day for leeward edges, only.

Great to see a photo on Facebook of a pristine female taken at the London Wetland centre at Barnes on July 7th. I visited the Centre in 2017 and felt it was suitable then. 

This butterfly is Everywhere, albeit in low numbers: Look (up, leeward) and Thou Shalt Find...  

A good count in Savernake Forest by Dave Law: 15 sightings along Three Oak Hills Drive including two groundings (suggesting it's still relatively early in the flight season there - Sav's a 'late' site), with six males active in the Dead Beech Glade (halfway up 3OHD on the E side, a much better site than The Column where everyone goes...).  

I saw five at a new site on the edge of Swindon-where-the-shadows-lie, then retired home to watch the glorious end of the Headingley Test Match...

We're still getting rather mixed messages from Fermyn Woods, Northants, with many visitors being rather disappointed. Odd that no aberrations have been reported from there, in a midsummer in which a few 'Black Admirals' and aberrant Silver-washed Fritillaries are being seen, plus a nice aberrant Comma in the West Midlands yesterday.  

In fact, numbers seem rather disappointing north of the Thames generally, with the exception of the Oxfordshire / Bernwood area.  

Low pressure is forecast for this week, which will make things difficult.

Finally, I'm pleasantly surprised by how few sallows died in last summers heatwaves and drought. Here's one from outside Knepp's main area -