Showing posts with label Jubilee Country Park. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jubilee Country Park. Show all posts

Thursday, 24 August 2017

More Pugs

Lime-speck Pug, Eupithecia centaureata. Jubilee Country Park, 2 June 2012.
Lime-speck Pug, Eupithecia centaureata. Jubilee Country Park, 2 June 2012.
More Pugs!  Starting with this easily recogniseable Lime-speck Pug from Jubilee Country Park.  The white wings with a dark fleck are unmistakeable.

White-spotted Pug, Eupithecia tripunctaria.  Hayes, 10 May 2017.
White-spotted Pug, Eupithecia tripunctaria.  Hayes, 10 May 2017.
I had a couple of these White-spotted Pugs in my garden trap in Hayes this year.  They look a lot like the hard-to-identify pugs in my last post, but they have a white fleck on top of their thorax and if I remember to look for that, I know what I am seeing.

Tawny Speckled Pug, Eupithecia icterata subfulvata.  Cuckoo Wood, High Elms, 12 August 2015.
Tawny Speckled Pug, Eupithecia icterata subfulvata.  Cuckoo Wood, High Elms, 12 August 2015.
A few times, I have had the opportunity to run my trap in Cuckoo Wood, High Elms while a group are doing a glow-worm survey.  This Tawny Speckled Pug turned up in 2015.  You can't mistake this one.

Cypress Pug, Eupithecia phoeniceata.  Hayes, 31 August 2015.
Cypress Pug, Eupithecia phoeniceata.  Hayes, 31 August 2015.
 Nor this, a Cypress Pug, with a wider and narrower wing profile and a marbled patterning.

Finally, a couple of green pugs.

Green Pug, Pasiphila rectangulata.  Luxford Lane, Crowborough, 14 June 2017.
Green Pug, Pasiphila rectangulata.  Luxford Lane, Crowborough, 14 June 2017.
In fact, this one is called the Green Pug.  The colour fades in older specimens, but the broad wingspread is still recognisable.  And it is generally a darker colour than this next one.

V-pug, Chloroclystis v-ata.  Luxford Lane, Crowborough, 19 June 2017.
V-pug, Chloroclystis v-ata.  Luxford Lane, Crowborough, 19 June 2017.
Finally, the V-pug, one of those creatures which has an initial as part of its scientific name.  The V on the wings is easily recognisable ..

V-pug, Chloroclystis v-ata.  Luxford Lane, Crowborough, 5 July 2017.
V-pug, Chloroclystis v-ata.  Luxford Lane, Crowborough, 5 July 2017.
.. If you can see it, because sometimes it prefers to rest like this, with wings up.  But that's a giveaway too.

So, I have covered some of the many pugs in these two posts.  No doubt I will encounter even more of these tricky specimens.  Learning continues ...


Friday, 5 May 2017

Some JCP Photos

Scots Pine, Pinus sylvestris.  Jubilee Country Park, 30 April 2017.
Scots Pine, Pinus sylvestris.  Jubilee Country Park, 30 April 2017.
There was a lichen walk in Jubilee Country Park last weekend, led by Ishpi Blatchley, or local lichen expert.  I took the opportunity to take some photos of a range of subjects .. this one shows the male "cones" of a Scots Pine, shedding pollen.  There are lots of little pollen grains stuck to the sort of spider webbing which you can find almost everywhere in the countryside.

Oak Apple gall.  Jubilee Country Park, 30 April 2017.
Oak Apple gall.  Jubilee Country Park, 30 April 2017.
There were several of these galls, looking large and apple-like, on an oak tree that was right behind Isphi as she gave her introductory talk.  I was itching to take a shot but waited until later as that seemed more polite!  These growths are caused by the aptly-named  Oak Apple Gall Wasp, Biorhiza pallida.  There are hundreds of plant galls caused by a range of insects that make plants grow homes for them.  Oaks have more types of gall than most plants.

Larva of Orthosia cerasi, Common Quaker. Jubilee Country Park, 30 April 2017.
Larva of Orthosia cerasi, Common Quaker. Jubilee Country Park, 30 April 2017.
This caterpillar was munching on a Field Maple at the edge of the car park.  It was identified for me later (caterpillars are hard!) as a Common Quaker,  a type of moth that is easy to find early in the year.  I was pleased to get a shot that showed the head and the whole body structure so clearly.  It's not as easy as you might think, because they keep on the move and their heads go from side to side.

Parmelina pastillifera.  Parmeliaceae.   Jubilee Country Park, 1 May 2017.
Parmelina pastillifera.  Parmeliaceae.   Jubilee Country Park, 1 May 2017.
Finally, an actual lichen!  Ishpi was pleased to find this Parmelina pastillifera as she only has three other sightings in the London Borough of Bromley (though it's not rare in the UK as a whole).  This was on an oak branch and Ishpi was drawn to it by its steely glint. 

Parmelina pastillifera.  Parmeliaceae.   Jubilee Country Park, 1 May 2017.
Parmelina pastillifera.  Parmeliaceae.   Jubilee Country Park, 1 May 2017.
I wasn't happy with the photos I took on the day so I went back the next day to improve on them.  I opened the iris and sped up the shutter.  This gives less depth of field, but better sharpness and less motion blur.  (As I take these one-handed, holding the subject in place with my other hand, motion blur can be a problem, especially on a long springy tree branch.)

Those little bumps are isidia, little outgrowths containing both the fungus and alga component of the lichen.  It can reproduce if these growths break off and are scattered.  Their shape on this specimen helps to identify it.


Thursday, 19 November 2015

Mice and Voles

Wood Mouse, Apodemus sylvaticus.  Jubilee Country Park, 15 November 2015.
Wood Mouse, Apodemus sylvaticus.  Jubilee Country Park, 15 November 2015.
In mid-November, the Friends of Jubilee Country Park had a "small mammals" morning.  I wrote about one of these small mammal events back in February 2011.  This time, local expert Marcus Jordan and his assistant Steven Lofting did all the hard work. 
Marcus Jordan and Steven Lofting.
Marcus Jordan and Steven Lofting.

Here, they are getting ready to work their way around the traps that had been set the previous evening.  The box is to carry the emptied traps, and the big plastic bag is to empty the traps into.

When the traps are set, they contain some straw, some apple and carrot, some seeds and a few blowfly maggots, to cater for any of the variety of small animals that might be caught.  The maggots are in case of shrews, which need to eat very often or they will starve.  Shrews have a very fast metabolism and react badly to being handled, so they are let go straight away if they are found in a trap.

The whole contents of the trap are emptied into the big plastic bag.  This lets the trappers see and sort out what is in there.  In theory it is easy, but in practice the mice and voles are not keen on being sorted out, and this time two of them managed to be up a trapper's arm and away into the wood before they could be grasped.  They are very quick!

The idea is to corner them so that they can be lifted out by their scruffs, rather like kittens.

Contents of a small mammal trap, including a Wood Mouse.  Jubilee Country Park, 15 November 2015.
Contents of a small mammal trap, including a Wood Mouse.  Jubilee Country Park, 15 November 2015.

Wood Mouse being cornered and grasped.  Jubilee Country Park, 15 November 2015.
Wood Mouse being cornered and grasped.  Jubilee Country Park, 15 November 2015.
The creatures are then identified, sexed and weighed.  To weigh them, they are put into a small plastic bag, and the weight of the bag is subtracted from the figure shown on the scales.  The mouse at the top of this page has just been weighed. Then they are released, having suffered only indignity.

Short-tailed Vole, Microtus agrestis.  Jubilee Country Park, 15 November 2015.
Bank Vole, Myodes glareolus.   Jubilee Country Park, 15 November 2015.
We found Wood Mice and this Bank Vole.  The tail is shorter than that of a Wood Mouse, though I didn't manage to capture the tip of it to demonstrate; and it has much smaller ears.  The vole has just been weighed, and unfortunately for it, the weighing bag by that time contained rather a lot of Wood Mouse urine.  They do tend to wee when alarmed.

Marcus and Steven thought at one point that we might have a Yellow-necked Mouse ..


But although it showed some yellow in the neck area, it was not a complete collar, so this was just a big healthy Wood Mouse.  A male, this time.

Wood Mouse, male.  Hedgerow near Thornton Wood, Jubilee Country Park, 15 November 2015.
Wood Mouse, male.  Hedgerow near Thornton Wood, Jubilee Country Park, 15 November 2015.
(All photos taken with my EOS 5DS and 100mm macro lens, not using the flash so as not to alarm or blind the small mammals.)

Later addition: A mammals expert says it is not so easy to discount the possibility that this mouse might be a Yellow-neck, after all,  so it might be better to consider it an undetermined Apodemus species.

Sunday, 22 September 2013

More iPhone Pics

Chicory, Cichorium intybus, in Jubilee Country Park.  21 July 2013.
Chicory, Cichorium intybus, in Jubilee Country Park.  21 July 2013.
Here are a few more iPhone pics taken during the year.  There's a bit more of nature in this set.

The first one is a bank of chicory in Jubilee Country Park.  The park has this flower as its emblem.  I took this shot to show the white-flowered plant in the foreground.  It seems to be a natural variety. 

The salad chicory plant is a different subspecies, but you can certainly eat these flowers, if you are prepared to chance the possibility that they have dog urine on them.  It's a popular park!

Hayes Common, 20 June 2013.
Hayes Common, 20 June 2013.
Someone had left this lighted candle on the barrier.  Probably it had been there since the night before.  It's vanilla and hazlenut scented, which sounds quite tasty.

Railway bridge on Tiepigs Lane, Hayes.  20 June 2013.
Railway bridge on Tiepigs Lane, Hayes.  20 June 2013.
I took this because it seemed to be in a state of disrepair - and it's a well-used bridge, with 8 or more trains an hour, and it's my route into London, so I did wonder how long it would be left to deteriorate.  But it has since been repaired. 

The sign on the left identifies the bridge and gives a phone number.  So if it falls down, we will know who to call, if we can get the sign out from under the rubble.

Rowan trees on Ashdown Forest.  6 August 2013.
Rowan trees on Ashdown Forest.  6 August 2013.
Two beautiful Rowan trees on Ashdown Forest.  Rowans put on a lovely show in the second half of the summer.

Friday, 7 June 2013

Pollen Time

Malachite Beetle, Malachius bipustulatus, in a Meadow Buttercup, Ranunculus acris.  Jubilee Country Park, 3 June 2013.
Malachite Beetle, Malachius bipustulatus, in a Meadow Buttercup, Ranunculus acris.  Jubilee Country Park, 3 June 2013.
So many small creatures love pollen.  Not just bees, but beetles too.  This showy little creature is a Malachite Beetle, easily recognised by the feature that, in close-up, looks like a hairy red backside.  It's actually part of the beetle's wing-cases.

Malachite Beetle, Malachius bipustulatus, in a Meadow Buttercup, Ranunculus acris.  Jubilee Country Park, 3 June 2013.
Malachite Beetle, Malachius bipustulatus, in a Meadow Buttercup, Ranunculus acris.  Jubilee Country Park, 3 June 2013.
It seems to be munching away at this stamen, but it's the pollen that it wants. 

A Meadow Buttercup, Ranunculus acris, with a Malachite Beetle, Malachius bipustulatus.  Jubilee Country Park, 3 June 2013.
A Meadow Buttercup, Ranunculus acris, with a Malachite Beetle, Malachius bipustulatus.
Jubilee Country Park, 3 June 2013.
The meadow was full of these tall Buttercups, the most conspicuous flower at the moment.  You can see the beetle at the middle centre of the photo.

Saturday, 9 March 2013

Scarlet Elfcups

Sarcoscypha austriaca (Scarlet Elfcup).  Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, 27 February 2013.
Sarcoscypha austriaca (Scarlet Elfcup).  Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, 27 February 2013.
Irene Palmer offered to show me a flood of these charming fungi at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, for which I offer my thanks.  They are a pretty sight when there are few flowers about, and Irene is expert at putting together good material for a photo.

They grow on fallen deadwood which stays wet enough to become mossy.  You can't normally see this, but they have a small stalk which gives them a goblet shape.

Sarcoscypha austriaca (Scarlet Elfcup).  Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, 27 February 2013.
Sarcoscypha austriaca (Scarlet Elfcup).  Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve, 27 February 2013.
This was taken by lifting the branch and photographing the parts that normally never see the light. 

The same day I saw these, I received an email saying they were also out in Jubilee Country Park, and indeed I found half a dozen patches there on the 28th.  As they were a little past their best, I am not showing any photos of those specimens here.  But it's good to see them popping up in different places.

Thursday, 28 February 2013

Jubilee Country Park, February.

Butcher's Broom, Ruscus aculeatus.  Jubilee Country Park, 23 February 2013.
Butcher's Broom, Ruscus aculeatus.  Jubilee Country Park, 23 February 2013.
A few of the Orpington Field Club had a stroll around Jubilee Country Park on a cold and windy day with light snow.  Mostly we were looking for birds, which are not my speciality, so I was on the lookout for anything else of interest too. I was pleased to find that, having made the basic settings, I could operate my camera wearing thick gloves.

There were some snowdrops in bud, and cherry trees just coming into flower.  This bush was probably the best sighting, in Thornet Wood.  Butcher's Broom is a good indicator of ancient woodland, and here you can see the buds and flowers and a big fruit emerging from the middle of the leaf-like cladodes.

We did see some birds too, mostly Magpies, Gulls, Pigeons and Crows.  There were a few others, and I made an attempt at photographing them.  I make no claims for the quality of these.  This bird was the prettiest; a tiny one, too fast-moving for me to get a proper shot.  By the time I had focused on it, it was somewhere else.

Goldcrest, Regulus regulus.  Jubilee Country Park, 23 February 2013.
Goldcrest, Regulus regulus.  Jubilee Country Park, 23 February 2013.
And another bird with a golden name:

Goldfinch, Carduelis carduelis.  Jubilee Country Park, 23 February 2013.
Goldfinch, Carduelis carduelis.  Jubilee Country Park, 23 February 2013.
Robins are easy to photograph in gardens.  They are well-known for following gardeners around, watching for worms turned up by the digging.  Here, they stayed a bit further away.

European Robin, Erithacus rubecula.  Jubilee Country Park, 23 February 2013.
European Robin, Erithacus rubecula.  Jubilee Country Park, 23 February 2013.
But my favourite photo is this one, one of the magpies taking off from its perch in a tree, missing a twig by a tiny margin.

Magpie, Pica pica.  Jubilee Country Park, 23 February 2013.
Magpie, Pica pica.  Jubilee Country Park, 23 February 2013.

Sunday, 16 September 2012

Southern Hawker

Southern Hawker, Aeshna cynaea.  Male.  Jubilee Country Park.  West Wickham and Spring Park Volunteers outing to Jubilee Country Park and Keston Windmill.  31 August 2012.
Southern Hawker, Aeshna cynaea.  Male.  Jubilee Country Park, 31 August 2012.
We saw this on a recent trip to Jubilee Country Park.  It's a good time of year for dragonflies.  They are mature, and are busy mating and laying eggs.  This one was flying around the park not far from one of the ponds, and when it landed on some foliage I was able to get up close.

The males of this species tend to have a regular territory that they patrol, so if you see one fly off, it's worth waiting around for it to come back. 

Those greens and blues look almost fluorescent, like a high-visibility jacket, so this one should be easy to spot.

Thursday, 26 July 2012

Variability

Two July Highflyers, Hydriomena furcata.  Jubilee Country Park, 6 July 2012.
Two July Highflyers, Hydriomena furcata.  Jubilee Country Park, 6 July 2012.
One of the tricky parts about identifying moths is that some of them are very variable. We saw these two moths at Jubilee Country Park, and they are both the same species.

The one on the left is what you might normally expect to see. The green and brown patterning can vary quite a bit, but the shape and general impression stay the same. On the right is an all-dark variant, with just a tiny hint of green here and there if you see it close up.

You can still see the shape of the wings, and the darker stripes have the same shape and position.  But it takes an expert to look at these and know at once that they are the same.

And next time, I'll show three moths that look the same, but are not.

Sunday, 22 July 2012

A Colourful Visit to Jubilee Country Park

Fat-thighed Beetle, Oedemera nobilis, on a Creeping Thistle, Cirsium arvense.  Jubilee Country Park, 18 July 2012.
Fat-thighed Beetle, Oedemera nobilis, on a Creeping Thistle, Cirsium arvense.
Jubilee Country Park, 18 July 2012.
Jubilee Country Park is popular just now.  The meadows are flourishing, and that includes the insect life that abounds in them.  The Orpington Field Club visited on 18th July to look primarily for insects.

However, I was with a couple of botanists and we got separated from the entomologists for most of the visit!  Luckily that didn't mean that all the insects stayed with that group.  For example, the green beauty at the top of this post is quite common, but I always like photographing it.

Carcina quercana. Peleopodid. Caught by the Tent Peg Lane car park in Jubilee Country Park on 18th July 2012 and photographed back at home in Hayes.
Carcina quercana.  Peleopodid.  Caught by the Tent Peg Lane car park in Jubilee Country Park
on 18th July 2012 and photographed back at home in Hayes.
Yes, I am fascinated by moths at the moment, and it turns out that you can find them anywhere.  I grabbed this one into a little plastic tube before the meeting even started.  Like many small and colourful moths, it looks more or less white in flight.  You have to get it to rest and take a close look to see its real beauty.

At Ray's Pond I saw a damselfly I have not seen before.

Blue-tailed Damselfly, Ischnura elegans, by Ray's Pond.  Jubilee Country Park, 18 July 2012.
Blue-tailed Damselfly, Ischnura elegans, by Ray's Pond.  Jubilee Country Park, 18 July 2012.
Although the early flowers in the pond were over, there were still some of these large buttercups around the edge.

Greater Spearwort, Ranunculus lingua, in Ray's Pond.  Planted; the pond is artificial and recent.  Orpington Field Club outing to Jubilee Country Park, 18 July 2012
Greater Spearwort, Ranunculus lingua, in Ray's Pond.  Jubilee Country Park, 18 July 2012.
Out in the meadow, some of the grasses were giving a good show.

Smaller Cat's-tail or Small-leaved Timothy-grass, Phleum bertolonii.  Jubilee Country Park, 18 July 2012.
Smaller Cat's-tail or Small-leaved Timothy-grass, Phleum bertolonii.  Jubilee Country Park, 18 July 2012.
There were many webby nests in the grass full of spiderlings, and wolf spiders were everywhere, carrying their egg-sacs as you have to do if you have no permanent home.

Wolf Spider, Pardosa species, carrying an egg-sac.  Jubilee Country Park, 18 July 2012.
Wolf Spider, Pardosa species, carrying an egg-sac.  Jubilee Country Park, 18 July 2012.
And, of course, there were many butterflies.  This Comma was high in a hedgerow.

Comma, Polygonia c-album.  Jubilee Country Park, 18 July 2012.
Comma, Polygonia c-album.  Jubilee Country Park, 18 July 2012.
It was a colourful visit.  These photos and a couple more are in this web album: Jubilee Country Park, 18 July 2012.

Friday, 20 July 2012

More from Jubilee Country Park

People enjoying the park.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
People enjoying the park.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
The park is not just for small groups of butterfly-hunters.  These are some of the many walkers who enjoy it.  Those blue flowers are Chicory, the park's symbol, and the small white ones are Corky-fruited Water-dropwort, which is rare in this part of the country.  Or, it was until the Council's mowers spread it around the local country parks!

On the butterfly walk, the first things we found were moths.  I like moths and spent some time trying to photograph them.  There are several species that commonly fly by day, and others that are easily disturbed.  But this one is not often seen other than at night.

Large Yellow Underwing, Noctua pronuba.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
Large Yellow Underwing, Noctua pronuba.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
We didn't know what it was on the day, but strangely I recognised it as soon as I saw the photo.  Here, it is concealing a lower pair of wings which are mostly a vivid orange-yellow colour, and which flash brightly when it takes off.

I chased this next one for a while; it's worth getting a good photo of.

Yellow Shell, Camptogramma bilineata bilineata.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
Yellow Shell, Camptogramma bilineata bilineata.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
Only small, but nicely marked.  We also saw some Green Oak Tortrixes and plenty of grass moths, both of which can be expected in a meadow surrounded by oak trees.

And what about this beauty ..

Dung Fly, Scathophaga stercoraria.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
Dung Fly, Scathophaga stercoraria.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
It's a Dung Fly.  But Scathophagas, adult or larva, don't eat dung; they eat other creatures that eat dung.  The larvae are stuck in the dung because that's where the eggs are laid and they can't fly away, but the adults will happily eat other insects wherever they find them.

Then there were these:

Hogweed Bonking Beetles, Rhagonycha fulva.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
Hogweed Bonking Beetles, Rhagonycha fulva.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
Despite some scepticism evinced on the day, these really are known as Hogweed Bonking Beetles, and you can google it to prove it.  It was no coincidence that we first spotted them engaging in copulation on a Hogweed flower.  I have also seen them called the Common Red Soldier Beetle, but that is much less memorable.  Beetles like this are called Soldier Beetles because some of them have  smart red and black patterning which was thought to resemble an old-fashioned soldier's uniform.  Here are some others I posted recently:  Two Cantharids.

It wasn't all insects.  There are lots of interesting plants in the park, including this delicate Smooth Tare:

Smooth Tare, Vicia tetrasperma.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
Smooth Tare, Vicia tetrasperma.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
And other creatures: small mammals, reptiles and amphibia, like this toad I found while looking for moths when I was supposed to be after butterflies.

Common Toad, Bufo bufo.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
Common Toad, Bufo bufo.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.

Wednesday, 18 July 2012

Jubilee Country Park Butterflies

The group identifying a butterfly.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
The group identifying a butterfly.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
It rained the day before, the night before, the night and day after.  We were very lucky to have a rain-free day for the annual butterfly walk in Jubilee Country Park.  And we were pleased to see that there were lots of butterflies; no rarities, but in places the more common ones were fleeing in flocks as we walked among the grass and wildflowers.

Meadow Brown, Maniola jurtina.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
Meadow Brown, Maniola jurtina.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
Here, a Meadow Brown is feeding from Creeping Thistles among grasses and Corky-fruited Water--dropwort.

Ringlet, Aphantopus hyperantus.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
Ringlet, Aphantopus hyperantus.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
This Ringlet is perched on a Blackthorn leaf among Bramble flowers.

But the closest we got to a butterfly was when one decided to perch on the back of one of the group, giving all but one of us a good look!

Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
You usually see the upper side of the Red Admiral's wings, because they are so showy.  But I like the undersides.  The colours are muted but the patterning is excellent.  I would have showed the upper side too if the butterfly had given me a good look at it - but it didn't.  When it did open up it was at a sharp angle to me.  But I didn't mind; I like the profiles.

Those three are easy to tell apart, even from their undersides.   The next two, less so.

Small Skipper, Thymelicus sylvestris.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
Small Skipper, Thymelicus sylvestris.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
The Small Skipper and the Essex Skipper can only be told apart (to the naked eye) by the tips of their antennae.  In the Small Skipper, they are partly black; in the Essex Skipper, wholly black, like a cotton bud dipped in ink.  (Although this next one's antennae could have been pale underneath from this viewpoint, in fact they weren't).

Essex Skipper, Thymelicus lineola.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
Essex Skipper, Thymelicus lineola.  Jubilee Country Park butterfly walk, 15 July 2012.
We saw a few other species as well - Gatekeepers, Commas, Large Whites, at least one Green-veined White - but I didn't get any photographs of them.  Either they were too far away from me, or they moved too fast.  But it wasn't only butterflies we saw that day.  Often, I was chasing other interesting things to photograph instead of concentrating on the butterflies.  Next time I will show some of those photos.