I took this so-so picture of part of the famous view from Box Hill this afternoon. Of course it does little justice to a view too wide and far and subtly toned to be captured in a photograph. Actually I'm not a great one for views as such (though I wouldn't go so far as John Byng, who, in the Torrington Diaries, declares flatly 'I abhor distant prospects'). This one, though, seen under a clear blue summer sky, is quite something.
However, I was not at Box Hill to admire the view, and I'm happy to report that, in fields sloping down to the left of the picture, I found, after a good deal of fruitless searching, what I was looking for - the glorious Adonis Blue. As I wandered down the slope, I had a couple of possible sightings, but it wasn't until I had all but given up hope that I spotted a likely Adonis nectaring on a head of Scabious, wings folded. I crept up close enough to be pretty sure - and then this beauty opened its wings in a blaze of heavenly blue and flew off, to be joined almost immediately by another male, and then another... This wonderful butterfly summer just keeps on giving.
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