Marsh Fritillary

A group from the West Midlands branch of Butterfly Conservation are here this weekend, enjoying the fabulous weather. They had none of them seen Marsh Fritillary before and it was one of the main reasons for their visit. There was some concern whether, in this late season, the butterflies would have emerged by now, but Mary McGregor, checking the main area for them on the RSPB Loch Gruinart reserve, reported seeing up to 12 on Thursday (6th), so we went there yesterday with high hopes which were completely fulfilled with about 30 seen, some on the wing, others resting on grass stems having clearly just emerged. This meant that everyone had wonderful views and should have got wonderful photos.
Malcolm

 Butterflies are not always this easy to photograph.

After I had taken this photo, one of the group delicately removed the grass stems in front of the butterfly without disturbing it and took more photos. The right forewing is still not quite fully expanded so it has clearly only just emerged.