Thnaks
Wurzel and
David, yes it is proving its worth and no need to worry about a lack of butterflies anymore
26th March, …and we’re off! (as promised butterfly pictures are present in this post
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
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Like several others the warm springtime sun drew me out of the house in search of our favourite subjects. I normally stay local until things really get going with the locally restricted species emerging but I decided to take my new lens for its first foray into deepest Sussex, hoping its reach would help in search of Large Tortoiseshell at North Stoke. The early cloud soon vanished and by 10 it was wall to wall blue sky and with the temperature rising, layers were removed. Despite the sun and warmth though butterflies were rather thin on the ground, still feeling the effects of the recent cold spells no doubt but as noon grew close a couple of male Brimstone, my first of the year, began patrolling, such a wonderful sight!
Another butterflyer turned up for a bit but like me only Brimstones were observed. In the absence of anything settling I turned my attention to the birds. I’ve recently discovered how to combine images, hopefully this will help save Pete some memory space for the site (I’m assuming this is how it works)
There were several Buzzard encounters as they flew quite low.
A male Great-spotted Woody was hammering away, trying to attract a mate
A couple of Robins were having a turf war, lots of aggressive posturing going on.
And various other small birds were flitting around getting in the springtime mood. I was quite impressed how my lens picked out the female Bullfinch from in amongst the twigs, I’m so used to my macro getting totally confused with shots like that.
Neil Hulme popped by for a couple of hours but even his presence couldn’t tempt much more out of wherever it was hiding, and we concluded things really were very much in the early stages at this site currently and needed a run of a few warm days to properly wake things up.
I did manage a couple of Comma’s though, again my first of the year. The first one flew up from under my feet and settled up in some Sallows. The second one just before I left, causing my heart to miss a beat when I glanced a butterfly shaped orange blob basking on the other side of the fence.
The Brimstones did start to settle but not close so here’s a 'spot the Brimstone' picture.
As I was walking back to the station I also saw my first Peacock of the year, just a flyby but plenty more chances in the coming weeks no doubt
So no Large Torts today but Spring has most definitely sprung (until tomorrow that it…)
Just a word of warning, if anyone’s tempted to venture here in the coming weeks, pack your wellies, you’ll need them, it’s very wet and muddy!