A hot and dry June brings out the bee, fragrant and pyramidal orchids here on the North Downs; it seems a good year for them all even though the ground is parched. There are also droves of meadow browns, marbled whites and skippers. The dark green fritillaries are on the greater knapweed Centaurea scabiosa in the chalk grassland patches that form the ‘rough’ on Lullingstone golf course, but on one blazing day in late June they just will not stay still; these are males flying low through the tall sward frenetically searching for unmated females, stopping only briefly to refuel on the knapweed. Once located, apparently there is no long and elaborate courtship just mating.