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. It's been a week since I've updated my diary and I'm running the risk of being overtaken by Wurzel, so I thought I'd better make a start documenting my week off. Suffice to say it's been hectic but ultimately very satisfying
7th May, part 1
The plan for my week off was to catch up on a few species not yet seen this year, hopefully a week of season debuts. My first day was set to be another scorcher, probably too hot for springtime butterflies, so get anything on camera would mean either getting out early or waiting until the sun was about to set! I had an eye test booked for late afternoon, so I couldn't go on one of my long distant trips but a hot bank holiday Monday on one of my local patches is most definitely a place to be avoided at all costs, you might as well go to Hyde Park, far too many people!
The chosen site was Hadleigh Country park where I'll hopefully find lots of White-letter Hairstreak in 6 weeks’ time. It’s also a pretty good place for Orange-tip so the plan was to get there in time to find them waking up.
Arriving just after 8, it was already warming up but the resident Green-veined Whites were still lolloping around. Sadly, the same wasn't true for the Orange-tips. The first one I saw was in full patrol mode, dashing all hope of any pictures, in fact I didn’t see one touch down for a second all day! Green-veined Whites were by a very long margin the most numerous species and unlike the Orange-tips I could have photographed every individual I saw for the first couple of hours.
Also flying were my first Large Whites of the year, who offered no photo opportunities, and a handful of Speckled Wood.
The park backs into some arable fields, not all of which seem to be used. In the 4 years I've been visiting there's one in particular that seems to have been untouched and is full of some sort of crucifer left to go to seed. Small Whites love this field and I spent some time following an egg laying female around trying to catch her in the act, with mixed results.
Back on the main path I spied a silvery blue speck fluttering along the hedge. She opened up but not in a particularly useful position.
Had I looked behind me I would probably have ignored her completely though. On the path were several large muddy patches, remains of the recent deluges, and it was at one of these I was about to have what can best be described as a
‘Millerd Moment’:
One in particular was so engrossed that he ignored all attention and disturbance, including several fast cyclists zooming past. He made an exceptional subject, and I got a fair few funny looks as I crouched over the muddy ground.
This mud, it would seem, tasted rather good, a couple of Green-veined Whites joined the mud licking party. A sure sign they were feeling the effects of the unseasonal heat.
The only other species I saw in the morning were two or three Peacock.
By midday even the GVW were impossible to pin down so with a few hours still to kill I changed tack and wandered over to Two Tree Island to see if there were any baby waders running around. A few Avocet could be seen on nests and a pair of Oystercatcher amongst others put on a good show near the hide but what did catch my eye was a female Small Tortoiseshell looking for somewhere to lay on the bank of nettles directly in front of the hide.
After half an hour or so relaxing in the cool of the bird hide It was time to head off to find out how blind I actually am, walking past countless more Whites and a smattering of Orange-tip.