Thanks
Wurzel, you might have to wait a little longer than initially planned, I need to jump back in time first
![Embarassed :oops:](./images/smilies/icon_redface.gif)
!
Thanks
Wayne, anywhere at Strumpshaw is good for them. The doctors garden is generally a nailed on certainty but I do prefer seeing them on wild flowers.
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May 2022
Tuesday 17th, the missing report. Going through my photos I realised I’ve completely missed out a day, a trip to the south coast to find some Adonis. It was successful although numbers weren’t particularly high as I remember (dredging up memories from 2 months ago is a struggle, must be an age thing
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
).
The photos also indicate there were a few spring skippers about but I do remember finding my first Painted Lady of the year, not least because Millerd had messaged me saying he’d found his first one 10 minutes previously. I suspect I had three flying around in the end but they were very flighty and difficult to approach for confirmation.
As always, the sea of Horseshoe Vetch here provided a spectacle in its own right.
The day was warming up quickly and as the Blues were becoming supercharged I moved on up the lane to Anchors Bottom, trying not to get run over when a Small White posed and a swathe of Bladder Campion caught my eye.
The resident Corn Bunting proved easy to approach too, perhaps he thought he was more hidden than he actually was.
At the car park I wandered along one of the less used tracks. I was just thinking it looked very suitable for Walls when what came bouncing along towards me… He bounced off without settling into one of the adjacent fields. The good news was there was public access to this field and I found him and a few of his friends bouncing around and trying to stay cool in the now blazing sun.
Chasing them around in the heat was pretty pointless, I’d achieved the best I was going to get there so I went off to have a look around Southwick Hill. The walk across the farmland was most notable for the number of Painted Ladies coming in from the sea, all flying north without stopping. At Southwick Hill I was greeted by another Wall. Not much else was around besides several Whites and a few Holly Blue.
The return walk was interrupted by a small group of rather angry Goldfinch. It looked like a turf war between a couple of pairs, there was a lot of angry calling and posturing and when that didn’t work, things came to a head.
Back at the Wall playground they’d calmed down fractionally but still nearly impossible to approach. A reasonable looking Painted Lady made for a decent distraction though.
By the time I was having one last browse of Mill Hill it had clouded over quite substantially and most things had gone to roost (except the Adonis strangely), but in my absence there had been the start of a mass Common Blue emergence, something which Millerd was to experience in full the following day.