Returning 15 minutes later and the butterfly was back ... and wow, what a sight it was
. I snapped away as the majestic butterfly energetically and systematically worked its way around the flowers seemingly oblivious to mine and other photographer's presence. Other butterflies continually mobbed it as if put-out by it's splendour. The only problem was getting a good picture as it remained on the sunny side of the bush overhanging the water and we had to shoot directly into the light. After 5 or so minutes feeding this majestic insect left the others to it, and spiraled upwards and over a tall willow. Thankful for our experience we were all about to depart when another appeared (reckoned there had been two there all along) and we were treated to a further 2 or so minutes before this one too, vanished in the same fashion.- First one making off
- second Swallowtail
. Nevertheless the joy of a lifer would carry me through and before I'd got back it was augmented by my first Clouded Yellow sighting of the season (and first since 2009) 
.- This landed on the track ahead of me but 10ft was as near as i could get.
- Faded Red Admiral. One of only two seen the whole holiday.
- Peacocks were the commonest butterfly on the fen
.This year like last year I'm running my moth trap in my garden and also taking part in a Garden moth challenge which is a fun competition to find out who can record the greatest number of species in 2013. http://gardenmothchallenge.blogspot.co. ... -page.html So far I'm on 357 which is nearly double my number taken for the whole of 2012. This is because I'm trapping more often, throughout the night and also because I'm getting better at identifying the micros. I take the trap (or at least part of it (the MV light and a net) as there's not enough room in the car boot) to see what different species I can find in Suffolk as compared to Surrey (Woking). The following are a few of ones I haven't had (yet) in Surrey:-
- Used to be very common when I was a kid in the North East
- Expect to get this in Woking
- Hope to get this in Woking
- Not sure of the ID of this huge micro that I've never seen before
- Female large diving beetle (not sure if this is Dytiscus marginalis seemed bigger than one's I'd seen years before)
- Peacock nicely set off against white Buddleia Davidii
- Painted Lady in the spotlight again
- View of Southwold from light room in lighthouse
. I raced out of the car grabbing my camera and waited patiently for the butterfl;y to land. It seemed to be looking for somewhere to settle, but in that infuriating way that Orange-tips do, it just would not land 
. First it went one way along a mown bank then over and out of sight before returning and going the other way. I watched and prayed for a landing ..... but as is often in these situation it never happened and in the end it was gone 
. I had to make do with this Small Tort NOT on Buddleia. Never mind I consoled myself, there's plenty of crabs in the Blyth. - seenon thistle for a change
. A group of Black-headed Gulls also hung around but at a further distance. Fantastic aerial combat ensues when a lump of streaky is tossed into the air. In addition to the gulls and crabs a playful seal entertained us swimming against the outgoing tide.
).Phil
Also I do remember putting it in it's correct place when i did the report (taking care to avoid slip ups so i'm baffled as to what went wrong. A second edit was carried out to correct a gull picture which was my fault. again this was then duplicated at the end of the report. 
