Painted Lady at last

Well, how strange... no sooner had I resigned myself to a year without a Painted Lady sighting than what do I see? We decided to return to the point and nature reserve at Landguard in Felixstowe, and there was the butterfly, fluttering about at the top of the long beach, nectaring from flower to flower. I guess it will soon take off on its journey south. This really was such a beautiful insect, with its wings looking like a stained glass window in the sunshine.

You can see how the subtle shades of the outer wing provide camouflage on the shingle. 

The butterfly landed on one occasion in what was clearly a patch of short scrubby turf where rabbits had been grazing. 

There were various groups of people heading in our direction so we turned and walked down to the water's edge where we greatly enjoyed watching this Sanderling hopping this way and that.

I'm guessing it's plumage is in an in-between stage. Aren't those feather markings beautiful?

The photos were taken with my zoom extended to some degree, but the bird seemed totally unperturbed by our presence.

  

We noticed a Common Blue butterfly in a fenced-off area. The notice below was hanging on the fence. The explains that up to 25 species, presumably of plant, can exist in a single square metre of lowland dry acid grassland like the swathe (or sward?) inside the wire. I should have started counting...

The bird observatory sign informed us that a Spoonbill had been spotted earlier in the day.