Thank you Goldie, Peter and David for your kind comments.
Site Visit: Hartley Maudit - 24th April 2018
Another pond today – this one is beside an old church out in the styx surrounded on all sides by open countryside, its village long ago abandoned and demolished (probably after the plague in the Middle Ages).
![a2.JPG (4.45 MiB) Viewed 69752 times Hartley Maudit Church and Pond](./files/thumb_16593_4ca5b3c20c436fe5bc77f98abf1cd3b4)
- Hartley Maudit Church and Pond
Part of the churchyard is given over to wild flowers and the roadside verges are also bedecked, particularly with cuckoo-flower at this time of year.
I saw my first, second and third Large White of the year today. Two were a courting pair doing their aerobatic spiral dance but they parted company without mating.
![Large White - female (1).JPG (1.77 MiB) Viewed 69752 times Large White - my first of 2018](./files/thumb_16593_51909e6eecc25d737461809698920832)
- Large White - my first of 2018
There were also three Orange Tips, all male. I followed one for some minutes as he patrolled the roadside verges. He did not retrace his steps and I gave up following after a while. He was obviously nomadic and had no intention of returning along his route.
Site Visit: Noar Hill - 24th April 2018
As the sun had come out for a while (rain was forecast later) I decided to also visit Noar Hill for half an hour. No Dukes (still!) but there were four Orange Tips, all male and two were jousting. Also a Small Tortoiseshell, a Peacock and two female Brimstones egg-laying. I decided to try and get a shot of one of them actually laying eggs so after much scrambling over hummocks and hillocks giving chase, only pausing to detach myself from the odd bramble I took my shots and crossed my fingers (although not at the same time – that is not recommended!). She stopped on a Buckthorn bush for no more than a couple of seconds to lay an egg underneath a leaf and no sooner had she finished then she was off again. To get a pic you almost had to anticipate where she might stop and I had barely two seconds to focus and click each time. I managed to get a few blurry images but one I am quite pleased with follows.
![Brimstone - female laying eggs on Buckthorn (1).JPG (3.2 MiB) Viewed 69752 times Brimstone egg-laying](./files/thumb_16593_99590d18c12e50addbdc46151b9e8ef2)
- Brimstone egg-laying
This also gives me the excuse to share a few photos of Brimstones from previous years.
![Brimstone - male.JPG (982.93 KiB) Viewed 69752 times Brimstone having a rest after nectaring](./files/thumb_16593_6bc3956022748c46be51b36279a04cf0)
- Brimstone having a rest after nectaring
![Brimstone - male (2).jpg (4.05 MiB) Viewed 69752 times Male Brimstone backlit while nectaring in the morning sun last summer](./files/thumb_16593_00d855eb747adf0023006ac0b5f93658)
- Male Brimstone backlit while nectaring in the morning sun last summer
![Brimstone - two on the same flower.JPG (1.79 MiB) Viewed 69752 times Brimstone bookends on a common knapweed](./files/thumb_16593_526c1c89cf4e2c2d178c233235b61099)
- Brimstone bookends on a common knapweed
I once had a picture of a female who while on the ground opened her wings flat in order to reject an amorous male but it was one of the pics I lost when my old computer crashed and I had forgotten to back up my files. A sad loss.
Non-butterfly snapshot of the day
The pond at Hartley Maudit was of interest. A pair of Canada Geese were making a bit of a din for no apparent reason, my first Swallows of the year were hawking for insects for a couple of minutes over the surface of the pond before continuing their migration northbound and one lazy big carp came to the surface. When they open their mouths at the surface they make a distinctive “glooping” sound that it quite comical.
![Carp.JPG (846.81 KiB) Viewed 69752 times Carp "Glooping"](./files/thumb_16593_c0a94eebfe132cd98e66f58edb9aa941)
- Carp "Glooping"