Though I’m generally very fortunate with my butterfly sightings, sometimes my luck’s just not in. Twice now I’ve visited the woodland where I usually see lots of Silver-washed fritillaries and manage to get reasonable photos of those I see. My first visit was on a windy day, with lots of big clouds rolling through – not ideal butterfly weather and, though I did see several fritillaries, they were mostly flying strongly along the woodland rides, only settling out of sight behind the shrubbery. This was my best shot from that visit.

Last Friday I tried again – it was warm and sunny with little wind. Conditions should’ve been perfect yet, once again, the butterflies just weren’t cooperating. I really enjoyed seeing those gorgeous vibrant fritillaries that zoomed past me but, once again, they weren’t stopping, so this is the best of few images I managed to get. Still, there’s always next year …