I used to go to the national trust café at St. Margarites at cliff in Kent. The slopes around the café have the most marvellous views of the port of Dover.  I would go with my sister and her family and have a picnic and watch the ships coming in and out. It was always a lovely day out, nothing much going on, just sitting in our chairs watching the sea traffic and relaxing. Nothing strenuous about it at all.

 

Of course, as you have guessed by now, I often, although not always, took my camera and my nephew and I would wander off and see what interesting things we could find to look at and I would photograph them. It was on one of these wanderings that I snapped this small tortoiseshell butterfly  basking in the sunshine over looking the port of Dover.

 

The way it is sitting on top of the flower with its’ wings spread out basking in the sun. it is at such a jaunty angle it could be part of an haute couture hat made be a fashionable milliner. The blue patches on the edge of its’ wings really make them pop with hat black edging to them. Of course, the red or I think more ginger dare I say it! Of the wings is beautiful. You can really see the different shades of it in the wings here and I think it is only when you see one up close and personal in this way that you realise just how hairy their body is! 

 

Small tortoiseshells are one of the UK’s most common butterfly species and research suggests that they are thriving still both in the UK and across Europe too. Isn’t it nice to have good news about a species amongst all the doom and gloom we are used to hearing these days about wildlife.

 

Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly 001 is available in my on-line shop my website in various sizes.