Cheers for the comments Neil and David, I'm all for a slightly longer winter as last year and we did have a better summer but it would be nice to start seeing butterflies slightly earlier than last year, things didn't really get going until May (or so it felt)
Lost Posts
Every year there are some visits that I don’t post about. Sometimes this is because I don’t find my target species or because the weather report is inaccurate. Other times it’s because I’ve observed a similar range of species as on a previous visit to the same site or it could be because during the main part of the season I just don’t have enough time to actually sort the photos and write it up. On a few occasions I haven’t posted because I’ve seen too few species or because I only saw the butterfly for a few fleeting glimpses/shots while I was out doing something else.
In other years I leave them alone and once the moment has passed they’re dutifully saved and archived. But this year I got so far behind on a few occasions that some got missed out and so for the sake of completeness I’ve dug them back out and had another look at them. I must remember to do this next season as there were a few nice shots hidden away as well as more than a few fond memories that came flowing back as I was writing them.
The first was way back at the end of June. After a failed trip for Glanvilles to the Isle of Black I headed out with my older daughter to a mainland site. It was just warm enough with only light winds but I was concerned that as we set off on the walk to the site the sun was hidden by thickset clouds. No matter, I knew that they had been seen here a week or so previously and I was enjoying my daughter chatting away on almost every topic imaginable.
Once we got there I set up Base Camp for my daughter so I could make a few forays within ear shot. It was only when I got home that I discovered what had kept her occupied as I had an endless series of videos and photos on my iPod!
I’d visited this site before so I set about walking the paths around the small field where I’s seen them previously. This was seriously trampled – in some places almost flat so I restricted my efforts t around the margins of the path as well as peering over the tops of the grasses looking out for any ginger jobbies.
Unfortunately for me the cloud didn’t burn off, the wind picked up slightly and I realized I’d left it too late. Over the course of the morning despite plenty of leg work doing endless circuits of the ‘hot spots’ I saw only two species of butterfly, a Small Heath and a worn male Common Blue and only one of these stayed still long enough to be photographed.
That being said there were other things of interest around including a nice looking fly, various pipits and waders and unknown caterpillar.
There were also a few moths and these offered the best photo opportunities as well as adding a bit of ‘wow’ to the day. Around the banks and ditches the grasses were crawling with Cinnabars whilst the taller and drier grasses on the flat were preferred by Cream Spot Tigers. There was a LBJ which had very narrow wings and which I think is a Rush Veneer(?) a migrant and with the benefit of hindsight a possible taster of things to come?
Eventually we made the long walk back to the car, my daughter chatting away just as much as before and the time I spent with her more than made up for missing my target species.
Have a goodun
Wurzel