Thank you everyone, I think my week got off to a reasonably good start
3rd April, A Big Tortoiseshell long shot
So, what does bugboy decide to do on his first day of his week off, go hunting for an early Green Hairstreak or Grizzled Skipper, perhaps a little jaunt to Bookham to see if any Copper have hatched? Well no, I start at the top and go after the mythical UK Large Tortoiseshell of course! Noting that Neil's sighting wasn't too far from a mainline station, I left at the crack of dawn and put my day into the hands of southern rail.
They didn't fail to disappoint
, one cancelled and one delayed train later (4 hours in other words) I arrived at Amberley armed with my phone's GPS and map..... whereby I got lost for a bit, the GPS couldn't work out where the hell I was but during my idle wanderings I did stumble across a roosting female Orange-tip.
With the weather looking particularly dreadful, low grey cloud and a nippy breeze I finally got my bearings and headed along a country lane to North Stoke only to get lost again, I'd completely missed the track down to the site and found myself wandering aimlessly across what are probably private fields
. The day wasn't getting any better when I finally found the clearly signposted track, the weather if anything was getting worse but I hadn't come all this way to give up. Over 3 hours later and not seeing a single butterfly of any species I gave up and walked dejectedly back to the station. Not really wanting to leave, I decided to go find my female Orange-tip. As a testament to the awful weather she was still on exactly the same flower head. It was only now that the clouds began to break, awaking her and I cursed my luck. Still, I was able to get some nice studies of an Orange-tip
It was still quite early, around 3 and I mulled over whether to back to Tortoiseshell valley. Long looks at the sky trying to work out if it was clearing up or not and wondering if it was worth going back or leaving early and avoiding the London rush hour. The clincher though was when it occurred to me that it was around this time of day that Neil saw his one. That was it and at least this time I knew where I was going. With the weather improving by the minute my hopes of catching a glimpse rose and as I got to the bottom of the hill at the entrance to the site I saw only the second butterfly of the day, a large Nymphalid feeding on some blackthorn. I hadn't even got my camera ready when it took off and glided casually in front of me. Seeing it's upperside in the sun, my heart leaped into my mouth and then it landed in the grass a few feet away
. A few expletives of joy later and I had bagged the lifer to end all UK lifers!
And here it stayed allowing me to get within touching distance. It alternated between basking on the ground and on tree trunks. When I finally lost sight of it I wandered off to see if I could find Neil's one, this one obviously being separate individual. I didn't find any more but I did get a peacock flyby and disturbed a lovely male Orange-tip who thoughtfully settled for me. Safe to say the day had improved somewhat
Thinking my day was over I disturbed my Tortoiseshell again. It hadn't moved at all, still soaking up the rays in the same area and so I spent the best part of another hour in its company.
Only four butterflies seen all day but oh what a day, from dejected to euphoric in under an hour!
Ok well I guess I shall await the little green faces, I think they will all be very well deserved
. I certainly won't be using them on other peoples pages for a while
Cracking set of shots and impressive haul from today, my fave has to be the second Specklies shot - really captures the 'feel' of the species if you get my drift 
