Five Rivers 22-04-2020
Another day and a load more work done. This working from home malarkey is really interfering with my butterflying as with the weather we’re having at the moment first thing seems best – just creeping into double figures and the butterflies aren’t too mobile. By the time I get to go out (having combined lunch, break, an early start and a late finish) the butterflies are screaming about ceaselessly. Also you end up doing much, much, much more work than you would ever do when actually at work – there’s no packing up and waiting between classes, no down time at all really just solidly plodding along from start to finish.
Sill I was glad to eventually temporarily log off the remote desktop and pick up my camera and head over to Five Rivers. I didn’t see anything until I’d crossed the Waitrose car park and was walking smartly down the narrow path to the Town Path when a Holly Blue erupted from the low vegetation and promptly disappeared again. The little patch where the Specklies were battling it out previously was empty and my second butterfly wasn’t seen until I was actually on site and starting the riverside path when a Specklie flew out from a tiny stand of trees. Slightly further on I reached a bit of the path which is open to the river, the ancient tree that had previously stood guard on the river bank now toppled and decaying covered in a blanket of moss and nettles. A few whites were playing in the sun here including my first definite Large White of 2020 as well as a Small White, a brace a piece of Orange-tip (males) and Green-veined Whites as well as a couple of UFWs and a Specklie looking out of place like a sock in the wrong wash. I only managed the occasional grab shot of most of the whites but one male Orange-tip fed for a while so I was able to get something decent of him.
![DSC_0263 - Copy.JPG (2.29 MiB) Viewed 833 times DSC_0263 - Copy.JPG](./files/thumb_9821_dd819356e2ace6abd77e2811d9c80951)
![DSC_0281 - Copy.JPG (1.41 MiB) Viewed 833 times DSC_0281 - Copy.JPG](./files/thumb_9821_7f90f896407d7c1f3ce65b959d7bbe78)
I reached the Glades and stood watching a Large White for a while. It flew the same circuit five or six times while I watching it – it would fly towards me up high take a left turn and fly around in the smallest of clearing before flying away from me the way it had come. It would then fly round the back of the large ‘clump’ before doing a neat figure of eight over a small cluster of Dandelions and promptly heading back towards the river where I guess it turned around and started the circuit again. Eventually it didn’t come back so I carried on having already clocked 2 Holly Blues and two Specklies here whilst it was round the back of the ‘clump’. All that time watching the Large White and it hadn’t landed once, all I had were a few in-flight shots that would probably be pants.
In the warmth and strong sun I decided not to visit Comma Corner but instead carried on along taking the path that cuts across the Lower Banks. On the lower side of Bank 1 there was a conglomeration of whites – almost the full UK set with males of Orange-tip, Brimstone and Large White, two Small Whites and a Green-veined White. The Large White was motoring along so I tried for the Green-veined White and managed to follow it for a short while. As I was so doing a Peacock glided over me and carried on down the slope.
![DSC_0300 (1) - Copy.JPG (1016.97 KiB) Viewed 833 times DSC_0300 (1) - Copy.JPG](./files/thumb_9821_ab574d455b6f767abaf1535ed89a11dc)
![DSC_0305 - Copy.JPG (969.48 KiB) Viewed 833 times DSC_0305 - Copy.JPG](./files/thumb_9821_8fd411fbbd46e2626d68d1fa0847c726)
Things were really going frenetically now and so I spent much of the remaining time just wandering and recording again pretty much like I had previously at Middle Street. On the second Lower Bank there was a second Peacock and then at the back path the breeze was blowing right the way along the slope which meant that the male OT which was feeding on the Bluebells was an impossible target. As I started along the back path to the far corner of the reserve a Red Admiral took off a shot away. In the far corner a Holly Blue fluttered over the hedge into the allotments as did a male OT so I turned about and made the walk in reverse.
The wind had dropped a bit now but the butterflies were as unapproachable as before just now they would have to bugger off a shorter distance as their escape wasn’t wind assisted. On the nettle beds here there was again a Peacock and to OTs had a go at each other. It was interesting to watch as one caught up with the other, they had a bit of scrap and then both went off in opposite directions – I wondered if they followed a set circuit and if so how many times had that particular skirmish been played out?
Back along the Lower Banks there was a male Brimstone, a couple of Small Whites, a Peacock and then another and another as well as a Red Admiral. Try as I might I just couldn’t get anywhere near it. It would fly a few trees/bushes further along the hedge, I’d stalk it, line my shot up and then it would fly a few trees/bushes further along the hedge… I gave up on it in the end I tried for a few more Green-veined White shots instead. At the far end I finally got some distant shots of the Red Admiral as well as the surprise of the day – a Small Tort still hanging on in there!
Back through the Glades and along the River Path I went seeing the same butterflies that I’d seen earlier minus the Large White and with bonus Red Admiral and Specklies. Not a bad bit of exercise really though next time I think I’ll need to try and get out early in the morning and work rather longer in the afternoon/evening?
Have a goodun and stay safe
Wurzel