![Wink :wink:](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
Today was glorious and is usually the way I was stuck at work. I managed to get out during a free and saw a pair of Orange-tip, a Large White and a Holly Blue in the "wildlife" area. I tried out the "sport mode" on my camera to try and capture some shots of Orange-tip in flight...but I'll leave them for another day.
On the way home there were a few whites and Brimstones fluttering along the hedgerows as I raced to get home. Kids fed, bathed, stories read and in bed, washing up done and wife ensconsed on hte sofa I flew over to Bentley Wood. There were still a few hours of daylight to make hte most of!
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Once I arrived I headed straight to the Eastern Clearing and bumped into a couple of other butterfliers (Craig Bird and sorry I didn't get your name) who had obviously had the same idea. Pearls were flapping manically around in between the sunlit areas and shadows. As we were chatting about what might be about, and strangley just after I had referred to my lucky hat, a Duke flew into view and posed obligingly for us. Then I had a bit more of a look around. The Pearls were very flighty - whizzing around rarely settling long enough to even appraoch them. Some did seem to like the stacks of straw while occasionally they would become engrossed in nectaring on Bugle so it was possibe to get some shots. As the evening progressed I looked around for roosting Small Pearls but with no luck. Instead I saw a Peacock, Comma, more Pearls and also this little chappy who must have been caught out by the setting sun. The Slow Worm was in the middle of the path and was very torpid and cold to the touch so it was probably basking in the evening sun when it dropped below the tree line plunging it into shade. I moved it slightly off the path and into some long grass...perhaps I shouldn't have but it felt like the right thing to do. As the areas of shade increased the butterflies seemed to melt away and I put the camera down so I could revel in the eveningsong - Blackcap and Garden Warbler, a passing Greater Spotted Woodpecker and from the edge of the pines the unmistakable churring of the Nightjar. That sound took me back to when I was a kid living at Canford Heath, windows open on summer nights...
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Have a goodun
Wurzel