Lynchcombe Steps
The grassland of the Lynchcombe nature reserve on the Mendip Hills is looking cooked. The sides of the central combe (valley) are brown but the sheltered trees are still looking good. I like this spot as during windy weather it is a magnet for butterflies.
Lynchcombe
This is a great year for butterflies and the reserve is more like a butterfly farm. Silver washes are starting to look a bit bedraggled.
The large cabbage whites maybe common but their translucent wings look good backlit.
Butterflies clearly like the thistles. But some, such as this fresh brown argus, prefer the dry heat of the grasses.
The small coppers like it on the ground.
Back up on the bramble scrub the bees bomb the comma butterflies.
The commas are good looking, and can be confused with the silver washes.
This tiny moth caught my eye. Probably because its sitting on ragwort which can be a pest across nature reserves.
And Finally…
Nursery spiders are all over the reserve.
The females guard their nursery of young. Of course, they have already eaten their father.