Kingston Lacey 22-09-2013
While everyone was racing off to Kent and Sussex to see Long Tailed Blues I was confined closer to home as I had used up all the good will and Brownie points that I had collected over the previous autumn and winter. Luckily a trip out for the day was suggested and Kingston Lacey was suggested so as well as the lunch, picnic blanket and flasks I packed my camera. Once we had rendezvoused with my parents and wandered to the back lawn we set up camp and started lunch which was distracting for me as a few whites kept fluttering by and trying to catch my attention. Eventually I succumbed and set off after a ragged old White. It gave me the run around settling and feeding just long enough for me to consider approaching and as I made my first two or three footfalls it would take off. In the end I gave up and noticing something on the turning Rose bushes I checked them. As it turned out the thing that had caught my eye was a stunningly fresh Large White. Clean, crisp and citrus fresh and a total contrast to the battered individual which I eventually caught up with.
![192 - Copy-001.JPG (227.64 KiB) Viewed 1406 times Out the box](./files/thumb_9821_1a34346f5d4c38113da1d97d3964bcb6)
- Out the box
![196 - Copy-001.JPG (323.67 KiB) Viewed 1406 times ...and a "slightly" older one](./files/thumb_9821_6a258d115481abe169ab40647c58dc83)
- ...and a "slightly" older one
Up by the house there was a small flower bed boxed in by a low hedge. It was playing host to Large, Small and Green-veined Whites as well as a Red Admiral. Unfortunately they were all on the far side of the garden so I was forced to watch them fluttering about out of reach.
With lunch packed away we set off to wander the various different gardens. First up the bedding plants and topiary bushes with faces trimmed into them. Then onto the Fernery and shade garden which was surprisingly quiet on this visit. The piglets sleeping in the neighbouring field were scant consolation for missing a golden Comma. Back along the borders I stopped occasionally for the odd white or Speckled Woods and then we dived down along the avenue and in through the woods.
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![212 - Copy-001.JPG (355.63 KiB) Viewed 1406 times 212 - Copy-001.JPG](./files/thumb_9821_a0b76a08b12765222c628bc097ab504d)
While the girls rode the tractors in the kitchen garden I had a wander around the allotments which were packed with butterflies – mainly whites to the gardeners dismay, but also a Small Tort and another Red Admiral – this one allowed an approach as it basked. I haven’t seen that many Red Admirals this year so this one was a welcome addition. While I was getting my shots from various different angles a dad turned up with his daughter and waited patiently for me to finish up. I backed away and then set off down the path cheered by the soft wows as the little girl gazed at the butterfly I’d just left.
There were other butterflies around over the rest of the afternoon including back at the flower bed. I was watching a white and marvelling at what good nick it was in when all of a sudden it just dropped down dead just like that, literally falling off its perch!
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
. Mind you I suppose it’s getting towards that time of year again.
As I drove homewards, the girls chatting away about all that they had seen and done I was surprised to find that there wasn’t the slightest pang of jealousy over the LTBs that I’d missed out on. Saying that hopefully they’ll be back next year which could be one of the few benefits of Climate Change.
Have a goodun
Wurzel