Knees Up Meadow Brown
I’m in a large meadow in East Sussex in the heat watching butterflies. They are a nightmare to photograph in this heat because they are too active and I’m too hot and really want to be inactive in The Beachy Head pub nearby.
There’s a brown butterfly which is sticking very closely to the ground and which disappears every time it lands, keeping its wings tight shut. I lie down waiting for one to come near.
There it is:
They are incredibly hairy. Look at those eyes! And those incredible legs!
Just when I think that I’m photographing a Meadow Brown butterfly Maniola jurtina I realise that it’s too small and must be a Small Heath Coenonympha pamphilus instead. Despite appearances, I’m not actually in a large brown meadow in East Sussex; I’m on a small heath instead.