The site seems to be ok at the moment so here goes with another post...fingers crossed.
Monday 1st May – Wyre Forest
Bank Holiday Monday and the weather was looking traditionally iffy. Jane had arranged to go to our daughter Sarah's for a 'girlie' day and I was off the leash...but where to go?
Looking at the various forecasts it didn't seem to matter which direction I headed in, they were all saying cloudy with showers and maybe some sunny spells, so in other words expect anything, anywhere.
In the end I decided to drive over to The Wyre Forest which is about an hour or so away from me. I had seen Pearl-bordered Fritillaries reported here about a week ago but that was before the cold snap last week and I was unsure if this would have knocked them back a bit. Working on the principle of 'if you don't look, you won't know' I set out under grey drizzly skies and arrived mid morning at the car park at the end of Dry Mill Lane.
During the morning I slowly meandered along by Dowles Brook and found a few roosting Orange-tips on some nice patches of Cuckoo Flower in the damp meadows here but it was getting on for midday before the first breaks in the cloud allowed the sun to peep through and I saw the first butterflies flying, mostly Orange-tips and a few Green-veined Whites.
![Wyre Forest 01.05.2017 002 resize.JPG (1.04 MiB) Viewed 825 times Dowles Brook - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017](./files/thumb_10101_bcf3d248896537547a3984c725738735)
- Dowles Brook - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017
![Wyre Forest 01.05.2017 035 resize.JPG (1013.69 KiB) Viewed 825 times Damp meadow - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017](./files/thumb_10101_e565f544b294f77033d21914707c78d8)
- Damp meadow - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017
![Wyre Forest 01.05.2017 018 resize.JPG (481.15 KiB) Viewed 825 times Orange-tip - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017](./files/thumb_10101_2dc097973b94bd8c1a73aa4d8011f3d8)
- Orange-tip - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017
![Wyre Forest 01.05.2017 041 resize.JPG (552.36 KiB) Viewed 825 times Orange-tip female - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017](./files/thumb_10101_59b8cb2100070ca3092b1f4fade734cf)
- Orange-tip female - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017
![Wyre Forest 01.05.2017 051 resize.JPG (507.98 KiB) Viewed 825 times Orange-tip female - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017](./files/thumb_10101_22762062f293349853cbb55f99e24362)
- Orange-tip female - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017
![Wyre Forest 01.05.2017 194 resize.JPG (540.66 KiB) Viewed 825 times Green-veined White female - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017](./files/thumb_10101_bc995b68dda08b94cf29f0fb0c8528b0)
- Green-veined White female - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017
As the sunny spells increased I saw more Orange-tips and GV Whites which were all well and good, but I can see these in my garden and I was hoping to see Pearl-bordered Fritillaries, so far without success. I was thinking about last weeks cold snap but also the fact that my previous visits here have usually been later in May so I was wondering if maybe I was a little early for them here given the recent weather.
I then wandered up to the old railway line which is another 'hotspot' for PBFs, and as a good patch of blue sky opened up I saw a PBF flitting along the bank here, then another, then another, so I had three in sight at the same time. I spent an hour or so at this spot and reckon I saw maybe half a dozen all told along a stretch of a few hundred yards.
![Wyre Forest 01.05.2017 135 resize.JPG (904.53 KiB) Viewed 825 times Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017](./files/thumb_10101_ecbe82e740327adb06745f2bd3d720ba)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017
With some thick clouds interrupting the sunny spells I managed to keep sight of a couple of individuals a couple of times as they settled which enabled me to get some nice underside shots and also be on hand when the sun came out again and they opened their wings to warm up before taking off.
![Wyre Forest 01.05.2017 095 resize.JPG (529.86 KiB) Viewed 825 times Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017](./files/thumb_10101_1c7d117f00f98d8e3d2c11419d6535ba)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017
![Wyre Forest 01.05.2017 083 resize.JPG (594.46 KiB) Viewed 825 times Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017](./files/thumb_10101_ee48cdfbee7eed0d3a901f04fa40bd69)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017
![Wyre Forest 01.05.2017 106 resize.JPG (641.59 KiB) Viewed 825 times Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017](./files/thumb_10101_01c41b4b0141509061e0997f9c0e0b57)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017
![Wyre Forest 01.05.2017 162 resize.JPG (596.65 KiB) Viewed 825 times Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017](./files/thumb_10101_839a51ec1e69179e819a289c148d8448)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017
![Wyre Forest 01.05.2017 154 resize.JPG (634.64 KiB) Viewed 825 times Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017](./files/thumb_10101_f9219ac98e5c4a44dcabba60c8d6ded8)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017
![Wyre Forest 01.05.2017 171 resize.JPG (621.69 KiB) Viewed 825 times Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017](./files/thumb_10101_7c5dba32a4040a99806175a9f4b73749)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017
![Wyre Forest 01.05.2017 188 resize.JPG (578.66 KiB) Viewed 825 times Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017](./files/thumb_10101_903833b8280fd29994c3c4d0280c56a2)
- Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017
I then retraced my steps back to the meadows by Dowles Brook to see if maybe the sun had brought any PBFs out there but it was still just the Orange-tips and GV Whites. In one meadow I spotted a mating pair of Orange-tips and was taking a few photos when another male tried to hustle in.
![Wyre Forest 01.05.2017 212 resize.JPG (508.24 KiB) Viewed 825 times Orange-tips - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017](./files/thumb_10101_df275f61bc0cd5a07572310319946406)
- Orange-tips - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017
![Wyre Forest 01.05.2017 199 resize.JPG (563.24 KiB) Viewed 825 times Orange-tips - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017](./files/thumb_10101_6e510119b703a6278c77ebe349b4e5d8)
- Orange-tips - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017
By this time the cloud was increasing again so I decided to slowly wander back to the car and head for home. I took a different path back up to the old railway line and was having a last look in another clearing along here when I spotted an Adder basking on a fallen tree stump which made for a nice ending to the day.
![Wyre Forest 01.05.2017 224 resize.JPG (1.11 MiB) Viewed 825 times Adder - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017](./files/thumb_10101_3cc1d3d564386904c8d317f1c99d7db7)
- Adder - Wyre Forest 01.05.2017
So then, one of those days when I really wasn't sure to start with if it was going to be worth going anywhere. Just three species of butterflies seen and none of them in great numbers but all in all a really enjoyable day spent in one of the best locations in the Midlands.
Bye for now,
Neil