Painted Lady ...Lifer on my patch !

After spending far more hours this week than is healthy stuck indoors and on my arse, I was desperate for a nice walk Friday Evening when I got home from work. I decided to do a circuit of my patch, and the weather was warm and sunny.
On the Birding front, a Pair of Green Woodpeckers showed well in the paddocks near Forge pool. Over the Barnet Brook paddocks I spent a while watching a Kestrel hunt. This was the first Kestrel I had seen on the patch since the end of June so it was a welcome sight.
Along the way I had flushed two macro moths. I recognised neither of them and couldn't get on them for either a better look or a record shot., so had I got the hump somewhat. However, as I was about to cross a Style I noticed on the path the other side a butterfly. On spotting me approaching, in keeping with its cousins, it took flight. In my binoculars I watched it and thought "Small Tortoiseshell"..but standing still on the style, it returned to the spot below me on the path. For a second I changed my mind to "Red Admiral"..because  it obviously was not a Tort...I then realised what I thought I was looking at, something I had never seen before , a Painted Lady ! ? I quickly fired off a record shot before it skedadled, but on getting home I was able to confirm my sighting , A Painted Lady on the patch, and a lifer for me ! I thought I was done seeing any new  butterfly species for this year, and with Painted Ladies being rare the last two years , I was delighted with this find !

Painted Lady