Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

... I've noticed this year that people see it on Facebook or other Social media, race over to have a look and then leave the site alone...

That is something I have noticed myself on Facebook regarding most of the popular sites. There seem to be cliques of twitchers that just seem to follow each other about, the first one posts a photo and within a couple of days the same old names are posting from the same sites...and then they move on to the next species/site. My son Chris calls it 'Pokeman butterflies'...gotta get them all

Cracking Glanville undersides Wurzel

Cheers,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

Cheers Dave Sometimes the less obvious/showy butterflies are the best
Cheers Neil The early, cooler and damper morning worked in my favour for those Glannies "Pokeman butterflies"love it

Bentley Wood 30-05-2024
It looked like being one of those days when the weather forecasters were in total disagreement and so the best thing to do was go out anyway and cross yer fingers. On the drive over to Bentley the sun was shining but I wasn’t fooled for a moment as recent trips have seen the cloud bubble up from out of nowhere and then cover the reserve in a dense blanket of grey. It looked like history was repeating itself for almost as soon as I arrived the sun went in and I completed my first pass round distance.
My somewhat despondent mooch saw me end up in the ‘new’ clearing. A short way into the field my attention was drawn to a few Bracken plants which were being utilized as perches by two Broad-bodied Chasers. Whilst I was setting myself up for some shots a butterfly took off from deep within the grass. It’s idle eruption and overly flappy flight stirred something in my memory and even before I’d had a proper look or taken note of the colour I knew it was a Meadow Brown and my first of the season. I don’t usually make a habit of going out of my way for this species as they are ubiquitous come the summer proper but I made an exception for this individual as I didn’t know if I would actually find anymore butterflies on the visit. After I’d got a few shots from different angles and vantage points I pressed on working along the Back track and at one point I had to dig my jacket out of my bag as the rain had started. By the time I’d done a second and third fruitless circuit there were several blue patches and the sun was starting to show itself a little more readily. Even so I had still only seen one butterfly so I gave up and made my way over to Barnridge…

As well as watching the road on the drive over to Barnridge I also took a few sneaky glances heaven wards and I clocked some bubbling in the distance hence my right boot came down a tad heavier. As I pulled up and jumped out with my gear there was still blue sky. My rapid progress was stalled just long enough to take in a pair of Specklies dancing on the edge of the path, spiraling and sliding through the air as if on stage. Then I was off, once again racing the cloud but now my progress was difficult to gauge as there was the view of the blue above on offer was severely limited by the tall trees lining either side of the track. As I reached the more open copse I looked to have just been pipped to the post for as my boot crossed the threshold the cloud covered the sun. Luckily my cursing didn’t just turn the air blue but also the sky above and with the temperatures rising as the sun took hold of the territory I set about looking for Pearls. This time it was easy as on the second pile of dead Bracken one sat soaking up the rays. I followed it one or two more times as it flew around the various stooks of Bracken and at one point I was also graced with a trousering.

Leaving it to enjoy its retirement I moved over to the other side of the clearing and while I mooched about a bit I noticed a mown path. ‘There must be a purpose for this’ I reasoned and so set to following it. Sure enough a Grizzlie popped up and a Marshie both appeared along the edge/verge. It was almost like Waynes World 2 and the Jim Morrison dream; “if you mow a path they will come”. I then spent the next half an hour walking up and down this one little section of path. As I wandered another Marshie turned up, then another and another. My wandering was now more of a few steps before stopping to lean in to grab some shots of another Marshie. This one with a clip in the wing, that one with a black ground colour and the other with a nice blend of white, yellow and cream. All told there must have been at least 6 different individuals flying here. Of these there were two highlights. A fresh individual still releasing merconium was one and another had an interesting distribution of chequers creating thick black bands over both wings.

After all this revelry I made the mistake of checking the time and unfortunately it was almost up so I started following the mown path to its end over by the enclosure fence primarily to make my way back to the main track and home. However the butterflies had other ideas as two more Marshies appeared from what felt like nowhere. One was par for the course but the second was a cracking looking female. I can classify her into the female gender very easily as she was extremely rotund, fantastically fecund and also very fresh almost as if she’d only just emerged. Despite her heavy egg load she didn’t hang around for very long but I did manage more than several shots before she did her best to shoot off. After this I finally escaped the confines of the Copse and made it back to the car without any more diversions.

While I drove home I mulled over the visit. After a dire start it actually, eventually, became a George Fornby day: “it’s turned out nice again”…
Eerie Bentley Wood
A butterfly deficit
Barnridge saves the day
Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

That's a bit of Bentley Wood I've not been to, Wurzel - it looks pretty good! Great shot of the Pearl egg-laying on the bracken - they must be so confident the tiny caterpillar will find its way to some violets down there... And that last Marshie looks ready to burst open!

Cheers,

Dave