Lockdown update 2 - Gait Barrows NNR

Soon it was May, and as guidelines began to relax slowly, Simon and I made our first car journey out of the Chorley area in over two months. We chose Gait Barrows NNR as it should be a) quiet, and b) have some good Butterflies.
On a still, warm morning we made our way onto the limestone pavement and soon spotted our first Dingy Skipper.

Several more followed along with a few Brimstone and Small Tortoiseshell's. We then headed towards the clearings where there had been some Duke of Burgundy seen, but not today. Instead some Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries showed off to the camera.

This allowed us to see both the '730' pattern on the upper wing, as well as the beautiful pearl affect on the under wing.
The final interesting sighting was a lone Damselfly nearby. When studying the picture after it looked identical to Variable Damselfly! This would be a first for Lancashire. After discussions on the Lancashire Dragonfly Facebook site, it turns out that there is a variant of Azure Damselfly that is identical - apart from the shaping on the neck! Ours was an Azure, but a very educational one.