Thanks
Trevor, I see you’re finally off the mark too now and I imagine your old railway track will start producing the goods en-masse this week.
Thanks
Essex, it was a relief to see more than a fleeting glance of something!
Thanks
Wurzel, I’m just glad to see the back of March this year!
Thanks
David, it was certainly a breath of fresh air after the weeks of nasty weather we’ve had.
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April 2023
Sunday 2nd was the first of 4 days that were destined to be butterfly friendly (if the weather seers were anything to be believed). Well the first day didn’t quite start as they predicted, the blanket of cloud took an age to clear and by lunchtime I was beginning to think the day wasn’t going to happen. I spent the morning wandering Walthamstow Marshes and Wetlands willing the stubborn cloud to move. The Kingfishers have now become tiny blue smudges at the centre of the viewfinder as they take turns digging a nest out on one of the Islands.
The Hedgerows have suddenly become rather noisy, our breeding Blackcaps have returned from their winter holidays in the Med and west Africa and now the males are noisily claiming territories. Joining them in the springtime melodic cacophony were the Chiffchaffs.
It wasn’t until midday that I noticed the cloud seemed to be breaking further north from where it was drifting, my queue to head off to Tottenham Marshes.
A Peacock showed up first. The sunny spells were still short lived so he posed well.
I had another Small White flyby (my third here now, probably something to do with the nearby allotments) but had to wait another half hour before something else settled. Crossing a field where Small Tortoiseshells normally frequent I saw another White flutter down into a large bed of Red Dead-nettle. I presumed it was another Small but as it had settled I picked up the pace to catch it before it took off again. I was still quite a distance away when I saw the markings, my first Green-veined of the year, and a nicely marked female too. I think she was on her maiden voyage and was feeding avidly, not bothered in the slightest by me.
Another long wait (well 20 minutes) and I found another species, a rather weather worn Red Admiral. Nearby I spooked a second Peacock and had a couple Brimstone flybys.
Next I returned to my favourite hotspot which earlier had turned up nothing, the afternoon sun had woken up a couple of Comma who were busy fighting over the best spot in-between basking. Looking at my pictures later, I only managed to get one of them
I spent quite a while with these two but when I wandered off a small brown butterfly fluttered weakly past, another new species and probably also on its maiden flight. After initially landing in the grass he found a particularly nice spot to sit and posed like a trooper!
A little while later a second Specklie turned up just long enough for a couple of record shots. I then came across a second Red Admiral, except on closer inspection it was the same one as before, about a mile from that first spot.
That was very nearly it for the day but rather than walking back home I decided to take the bus. The stop backs onto a small nature reserve and flying around a patch of Dandelions were a couple of Peacock. I wouldn’t normally bother with photos in such an urban spot with ‘normals’ passing by giving me weird looks, but the years been slim pickings so far so I swallowed my pride. As befits a couple of males loitering around a bus stop in Tottenham, they both looked somewhat worse for wear!
Remarkably this is my first day of the year where I’ve hit double figures and the days quota of Peacock made that the first species to hit double figures for the year, it really is a slow start.