At last! - some warm Spring sunshine, in marked contrast to the dull, wet days of late.
Today, I made my second visit of the year to the Dry Sandford Pit reserve at Cothill. Even on my short journey there, I saw several Brimstones flying by the roadside and visiting clumps of wild flowers on the verges.
At the entrance gate to the reserve, there was a Muntjac deer, which seemed equally surprised by the warmth, and loped off rather lazily as I approached. Just inside the gate, there is a large patch of Primroses and, unlike on my earlier visit, these were now being attended by several Brimstones.
I mentioned in an early post my intention to try out the so-called 'pro-capture' mode of my Olympus E-M1 Mk.ii camera (in this mode, the camera continually cycles shots through a buffer while the release is half depressed. Then, when you actually release the shutter, up to 35 shots from before the release are also captured) There is something almost surreal about taking a photo before you actually press the button but that is what happens! I had set the camera to take 8 pre-shutter frames, with an overall limit of 25 frames, and a maximum rate of 18 frames per second. In the event, the first movement of the butterfly appeared in the 6th frame, it was airborne in the 7th, and had disappeared out of shot by the 8th. - a really fast mover!
![Brimstone_2018-1.jpg (221.85 KiB) Viewed 1142 times Dry Sandford Pit, Cothill, Oxon - 5th April 2018<br />Olympus E-M1 Mkii with 40-150mm lens - 1/5000s@f/5.6 ISO 320](./files/thumb_11310_2baac8e121fa8b669238f2bc32fd02e7)
- Dry Sandford Pit, Cothill, Oxon - 5th April 2018
Olympus E-M1 Mkii with 40-150mm lens - 1/5000s@f/5.6 ISO 320
Since I was keen to see what other butterflies might be about, I didn't spend time on further experiments but moved on to the sun-baked sandstone cliffs, where I found both Commas and Peacocks.
The Comma was perched on the edge of the sandstone cliff in a perfect spot for spotting any passing intruders.
![DrySandfordComma.jpg (119.55 KiB) Viewed 1142 times Dry Sandford Pit, Cothill, Oxon - 5th April 2018<br />Olympus E-M1 Mkii with 100-400mm lens - 1/640s@f/10 ISO 640](./files/thumb_11310_32f2cf3f2bd4ca6af4d55633e762862e)
- Dry Sandford Pit, Cothill, Oxon - 5th April 2018
Olympus E-M1 Mkii with 100-400mm lens - 1/640s@f/10 ISO 640
The Peacocks were also enjoying the warmth from the stones at the base of the cliff. I am always surprised how bright they look after having spent the Winter in hibernation:
![DrySandfordPeacock.jpg (158.63 KiB) Viewed 1142 times Dry Sandford Pit, Cothill, Oxon - 5th April 2018<br />Olympus E-M1 Mkii with 100-400mm lens - 1/1000s@f/8 ISO 640](./files/thumb_11310_81b0203523c79f056fbf581e2c4a0ed3)
- Dry Sandford Pit, Cothill, Oxon - 5th April 2018
Olympus E-M1 Mkii with 100-400mm lens - 1/1000s@f/8 ISO 640
One of my shots of a Peacock illustrates how intimidating such a dramatic eyed-creature might look to a potential predator.
![DrySandfordPeacock2.jpg (213.44 KiB) Viewed 1142 times Dry Sandford Pit, Cothill, Oxon - 5th April 2018<br />Olympus E-M1 Mkii with 100-400mm lens - 1/1600s@f/10 ISO 1250](./files/thumb_11310_31f369489e1c2554649ece69022eb8c3)
- Dry Sandford Pit, Cothill, Oxon - 5th April 2018
Olympus E-M1 Mkii with 100-400mm lens - 1/1600s@f/10 ISO 1250
There were plenty of other signs of Spring, with many bees attending the catkins and a bee-fly (
Bombylius major) demonstrating its very long proboscis, used for finding nectar deep inside the Primrose flowers.
![DrySandfordBombylius.jpg (123.02 KiB) Viewed 1142 times Dry Sandford Pit, Cothill, Oxon - 5th April 2018<br />Olympus E-M1 Mkii with 100-400mm lens - 1/8000s@f/5.9 ISO 1250](./files/thumb_11310_38a87fc1b9e0d46a615528a6fbb2abe7)
- Dry Sandford Pit, Cothill, Oxon - 5th April 2018
Olympus E-M1 Mkii with 100-400mm lens - 1/8000s@f/5.9 ISO 1250
Let's hope that temperature now start to rise and more Spring species appear on the wing soon.
Mike