Gatekeepers.

It was back to the more common butterflies today with a short visit to the local downland at the back of Seaford. There were Gatekeepers all over the place including a few females. As with all the brown family of butterflies it is quite difficult to get close to them for photography as they are so alert, but eventually I did manage a few quite pleasing shots. The Marbled Whites are now looking a little tired but the Chalkhill Blues were quite numerous and still mostly fresh. The Meadow Brown pupa I managed to relocate and it has become slightly duller. I also saw a Chalk Carpet, a scarce moth. This was very skittish and managed to evade my camera.

Gatekeeper complete with red mites.

Male Gatekeepers.