Cheers Goldie
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I've noticed a few more Red Admirals about recently so there could be one your way soon
Five Rivers 22-04-2023
One of my least favourite activities during Spring is the almost continual game of ‘Race the Clouds’ because inevitably they always win because they don’t play fair, sneaking up on you out of the blue or tracking slowly across the sky right up to the point when you arrive at your destination when they hurtle across the heavens at breakneck speed. As I drove towards The Devenish I was once again competing and the nimbi (is this the plural of nimbus?) were gathering and looming large. As I drew near to the little roundabout I made a snap decision to play the clouds at their own game and so rather than visiting The Devenish I was soon parked and then wandering along the riverside path at Five Rivers.
My cheer didn’t last for long as the clouds dealt their final hand, a seemingly impenetrable blanket rolled across the sky smothering the sun. Ruefully I averted my gaze from the ground and instead scanned the sky looking for little points of weakness; little patches of blue or brightness against dull murk. There looked to be one or two spots that, so long as I was careful, I might be able to take advantage of and so I pressed on instead of retreating. Unsurprisingly all along the river side path and Glades all was quiet. It felt like the cloud wasn’t just smothering the sun but was almost dulling the sounds as well. When I got to the Banks just past Specklie Intersection finally a butterfly raised its head above the parapet and there was what I hoped would be the ‘first butterfly of the day’ and not the only one! It was a Comma sitting on a leaf and looking like it was desperately trying to bask.
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As I clicked away at the Comma I felt a strange sensation on my neck. It took me a moment but then I worked out that it was the sun. One of the ‘weak’ spots in the blanket of cloud was working its way along the Banks. I looked back down at the Comma but it had gone, the extra 0.5 of a degree had made the difference. And not just to the Comma; as I looked about a Peacock took off from some hidden perch and then the Comma revisited. The sun had arrived by this time but looking towards the end of the Banks I could see that it wouldn’t last long so I sharpened the eyes. An Orange-tip came towards me and a White went up from a Bramble bush behind me. A/the Peacock flashed past in a near Kamikaze run. All of this in a matter of 30 seconds or so! “Hmm what to follow?” I mused and without thinking grabbed a few shots of the Peacock while I thought things through. It had to be the Orange-tip of course but it didn’t play fair for as the cloud crept along the Banks re-exerting its strangle hold on the sun the butterfly kept flying. I kept following it and the stinging nettles that lined the narrow trackways continually managed to penetrate through my jeans which made it fell like the 2 minutes that it kept flying was actually much longer. Then the cooler temperatures must have caught up with it and it settled. I got a fair few shots before it seemed to get a second wind nd flew a whole 2 metres away before it again plunged down into the vegetation. So I settled down with it but unfortunately the cloud lingered so I decided to risk leaving it and try further along the Banks.
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I needn’t have bothered. As I worked my way along the Banks the cloud held sway over the reserve. The blue sky in the distance that had prompted me to try further afield stayed the same distance away, just out of reach as a huge block of cloud stubbornly sat directly over Five Rivers. When I got to the end of the Banks it became clear that the cloud wasn’t going anywhere fast and so I tried to work out the range of influence it had over Salisbury; was it only Five Rivers that was effected or would the sun be out at Middle Street? I decided to risk finding out but tarried a little longer as when I retraced my steps I ran into the Orange-tip still in the same place. I settled down and waited for the slightest break in the cloud – in the end there was just a slight rising in the light levels and it was only enough to make the OT lift its fore wing slightly showing the beautiful patterning on the underside tip. As the light faded once again it hunkered down and so I left it in peace.
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The drive over to Middle Street was really pleasant and sun filled but as I parked I could see that there was another huge swathe of cloud ready to swoop in and wreck things. As I walked onto the reserve I was accompanied by the falling light levels and the dropping temperature that has been the hallmark of my season so far this year. I can’t seem to get the timing right; the conditions are always perfect as I get tot eh right spot but then they change so I end up in the right place at the wrong time. I pressed on regardless and kept a close eye on any flowers with white petals just in case there was another Orange-tip caught out by the cloud and my travels took me along the Back Path and round the Pond before arriving to check out the Dips.
I worked into Dip 1 via the side entrance, a little trackway between the large Bramble hedge that lines one of the paths to the river and flying amid the pale grey of last seasons’ grasses was a Small Tort. Pleased that the butterflies were putting in an appearance despite the grey I climbed back out and onto the Bank Path. From this raised elevation I spotted another Small Tort down on the football pitch and there was another down in Dip 2. From the different notches and markings I was able to be certain that these were three different individuals but after this promising start the walk along the rest of the Bank Path didn’t yield any further butterflies, not even the scrubby little hollow. Still three Small Torts on a less than reasonable weather day wasn’t too bad.
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As I worked back the way I’d come but from the lower path I was able to scrutinize the actual Bank bit of the Bank Path better and I didn’t have to wait long for my observations to bear fruit as a couple of steps along the track I could make out the eyes of a Peacock. For such a tired and bedraggled looking specimen it certainly still had some ’umph’ left and it did play hard to get before eventually running out of steam and plopping resignedly down. After this I found a Small Tort, then another and then another followed by a side dish of Small Tort back in Dip 2. I was having great fun but couldn’t help but check on the cloud periodically. The situation was getting less and less conducive to butterflying and so I decided that I’d had a good run and now was the time to leave the table. As I drove homewards I reckoned that the Law of Sod would see to it that the sun finally came out as my key hit the lock once home…
Yet despite the cloud
Dynamic duo of sites
Produce some goodies
Have a goodun
Wurzel
P.S. Of course when I was right. When I returned the sun finally came out and stayed out and so I went for a walk round The Close with my wife. I was about to bemoan the Law of Sod when I spied a large mass of cloud still sitting over Middle Street