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Five Rivers 16-10-2021
It was a pleasant Saturday afternoon and the long list of jobs was finally done so I took some time and wandered over to Five Rivers to see what I could see. There were several different routes that I could have taken but as I was in no rush to get there I took the longer route past the Sorting Office and down through the housing estate that runs parallel to the train tracks. The big fences shielding the local residents from the noise and mess of the railways were covered in Ivy, huge Buddleias hang over the very tops of the panels like frosting running down the side of a cupcake and other plenty of other vegetation takes advantage of the support offered by the erect structures. However I didn’t have to start craning my neck skywards to find my first butterfly as I spotted a White as I turned the corner past the Sorting Office. I crossed the road carefully and discovered it to be a Small White enjoying the last throes of the Ivy before winter hits. After a few shots (none of which were up to much) it nipped off and over into the railway side disappearing from view.
I carried on my wandering and not before too long I spotted a Red Admiral high up in the vegetation and a few steps away there was a second. The first despite being slightly lower down was harder to get anything of as it insisted on feeding on little outcrops of Ivy which meant it was always at very jaunty angles. The Ivy itself hummed as it is alive with Ivy bees. Then there’s a third flying overhead and a Small White which as probably the same as the first one. I was by now feeling pleased that I’d decided to get out so it came as no surprise that things then went quiet until I was actually walking along the river path at Five Rivers. In the shade is was noticeably cooler, the leaves were taking on the colours from the red part of the colour wheel and there was a slight haze which clawed at my nostrils; the sweet yet caustic smell of bonfires from the neighbouring allotments which border the reserve on three sides. I was literally just wondering if the ‘usual spot would hold a Red Admiral when I spotted one gliding purposefully in the sky filled gap between the trees. The sun caught the red epaulets as it quartered its airspace and then as the sun went in he landed and closed up shop leaving me marvelling at the way he could change from vibrant showman to camouflaged dead leaf with a simple flick of the wings. At Comma Corner there is no Comma but instead there was a basking Red Admiral unfortunately really far back on the Brambles and so I carried on up the gentle slope checking out the Banks from above. At the Middle Upper bank a Small White flies up and sits up hit right above the Buddleia so there was not a chance in hell of getting any shots. I was left grounded and wondering whether I should invest in a telescopic stepladder for future eventualities such as this? In a sunny spell a Dragonfly goes over but time was short so I started back so that I could spend a little more time with the Riverside Red Admiral. The sun had started to peep through the cloud and so now the Admiral reverted back to aeronautical artiste and the red epaulets once more blazed across my retina. There was a definite feeling of winding down and packing up at the close of the season, so much so that I almost packed my camera way into the bag for the return trip. Luckily laziness took over and so on the home stretch it was still to hand when I spotted a female Red Admiral resting at just below head height and sitting half in sun and half in shade. As I finished off the walk home I was left wondering if she was one of the three from earlier? Acrid bonfire smoke
An ember over nettles?
No Red Admiral
Have a goodun
Wurzel