Butterflies on Storrs Hill

Tuesday, 6th August 2002, West Yorkshire

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There's more common knapweed and greater knapweed in flower on Storrs Hill since my first visit a few weeks ago and on this hot sunny afternoon they're attracting butterflies and bees.


Gatekeeper seems to be everywhere this year.	Several wall browns are now on the wing.	Meadow browns, some of them looking a little the worse for wear, are still in evidence.

As usual, the bramble patch in the south-facing hollow is a magnet for butterflies. On the common knapweed below the bramble a single painted lady, a summer migrant in this country, is feeding near two small tortoiseshells.

A female common blue feeds on birdsfoot trefoil by the rocky path nearby while two male common blues fly over the open ground.

holblues.jpg - 4948 Bytes

As we're making our way back down the hill one of my companions points out a blue butterfly which has such a silvery look that, with my sunglasses on, I at first assume to be some kind of white butterfly. It's a holly blue (right).

Richard Bell,
wildlife illustrator
E-mail; 'richard@willowisland.co.uk'