Saturday 17th June 2017 - Double Header
With highs of 25c forecast along with sunny skies, it was incumbent upon me to spend the entire day in the field! I had promised my neighbour a trip to Daneway Banks in Gloucestershire, and we duly arrived at 10.15am and spent a good three hours there taking in the scenery, the flora and, of course, the butterflies.
My first Ringlet of 2017 greeted me shortly after entering the site:
My first Marbled White soon followed:
Meadow Browns abounded, as did Large Skippers:
We DID see a solitary Large Blue at the top of the site, but the warm weather meant it stayed airborne and no sightings were made in the hour that followed. I got talking to the transect walker, who had commented that 11 had been seen yesterday, and I had all but resigned myself to leaving with just a fly by to report.
However, my neighbour opted to take a rest on a wooden seat to the right of this image:
I took time out to potter around on the middle section of the site, where I noticed two guys taking lots of photos near the barbed wire fence. Sure enough, when I got to them, they had a male Large Blue, but too far away to get a decent image of. I somehow got my body over the fence but no sooner had I taken a single record shot, the butterfly was off. I followed it, and suddenly another paler Large Blue (a female) joined it in flight. For the next minute or so, these two whizzed about one another in a frenzy:
The male must have done all the right things, because seconds later they decided to pair:
Three blokes kneeling in the turf soon attracted an audience (for the mating Large Blues I should point out):
On a hot day, this is probably the only opportunity available to see this species becalmed, and becalmed they remained - we watched them for a good 20 minutes before leaving them to it:
Seeing that it was en route, we decided to stop off for a couple of hours at Lower Woods, near Wickwar, on the way back. Four Silver Washed Fritillaries were seen, although none were very co-operative from a photography perspective:
The only down point of the day was the absence of White Admirals, which probably haven't quite emerged yet. Still, we saw a surprise Brimstone as well as this Comma:
18 species in total, including mating Large Blues, meant this gorgeous day of sunshine and warmth will remain memorable. Let's hope this run of weather continues!