Neil Freeman

[Butterflysaurus rex]

What a fantastic Speckie photo Neil! The peacocks around my neck of the woods seem to prefer basking on bare earth or grass. Not the prettiest setting for a photograph but it doesn't seem to matter, I'm just so thrilled to see more of them than I have for many many years They are all over the place at the moment. Hopefully we'll have a bumper crop of beautiful fresh ones over the summer.

[Wurzel]

Fantastic Specklie Neil I know what you mean about the suffereing that comes form seeing others shots when you're trapped at work I hope the weekend is good for you, good luck

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

It is on days like today that I am envious of those on UKB that seem to be able to flit about the countryside all week looking for Green Hairstreaks and suchlike Oh well, roll on Friday when I finish for a week off work, fingers crossed for the weather and the chance to get out to do some looking myself.

Oh, how I empathise with those words!!

[Pauline]

Having worked in an office for almost 40 years I can certainly sympathise with the youngsters amongst you who have not yet reached retirement age - I would like to be able to say your time will come but if the government has its way you might never be able to . I count myself one of the lucky ones

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks for the comments guys, very much appreciated

Its been a while since anyone called me a youngster Pauline . Got a few years yet to retirement but there is starting to be a little light at the end of the tunnel, or is that some sod with a torch bringing me more work...

At least when I am stuck in work during the week I have the garden to come home to which helps prevent me going completely stir crazy, speaking of which...

Tuesday 15th April

Another pleasant day so, on getting home from work this afternoon, I did my usual thing and sat in the garden for a bit to chill out and watch whatever turned up. A couple of Peacocks were performing again and between bouts one of them would keep retiring to the side fence.
With the Peacock perched with the sun behind him I used flash to light up the shadow on the nearside for the photo below,

Peacock - Coverdale 15.04.2014

Shortly afterwards a male Orange Tip flew in, then out, then back in and settled on some Forget-me-knots at the bottom of the garden

Orange Tip - Coverdale 15.04.2014

With a flying visit from a Holly blue that didn't stop this was a cracking 30 minutes or so before the sun dropped behind the neighbours trees and the temperature started dropping quite quickly.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

Fantastic shot of the OT Neil I'm getting closer to them now so hopefully I'll get one as good as that eventually...possibly

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Agreed. It's always particularly nice to get a male OT on a blue flower.

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks guys, I have noticed before that the Forget-me-nots in the garden will often tempt a wandering Orange Tip for a brief stop so If I spot one fluttering in that direction I will slowly sneak up with camera poised. I think the neighbours are now used to the mad bloke next door sneaking about the garden with a camera

Wednesday 16th April

This afternoon I took the car back to the garage in Hall Green to have the rear spring fitted and leaving work a bit early got there at about 4.00pm. Determined to make the most of the afternoon sun and leaving the car to have the work done, I walked down to the Stratford road again as I did last Friday and took a short walk along the River Cole, this time in the opposite direction to before. Since Friday I have found that this route along the river is known as Shire Country Park and today I went along the section known as Blackberry Way.

http://www.shirecountryparkfriends.org. ... -park.html

I only went a short distance, as far as Foremans Road, and again saw around a dozen Peacocks but this time no Commas or Small Tortoiseshells. There were around half a dozen Speckled Wood spaced out along the way and for the first time this year I saw numerous 'whites' most of which I believe were Small but with a couple of Green-veined as well.

Speckled Wood - Sparkhill Birmingham 16.04.2014

Green-veined White - Sparkhill Birmingham 16.04.2013

There were also maybe half a dozen Orange Tips patrolling backwards and forwards along here, only one of which settled briefly to let me get a record shot,

Orange Tip - Sparkhill Birmingham 16.04.2013

After saying the other day that I hadn't yet seen a Brimstone flying later than early afternoon I saw a couple today and was pleased when one stopped to nectar from a dandelion right in front of me

Brimstone - Sparkhill Birmingham 16.04.2013

In total I spent less than an hour here before heading back to collect my car but it was good to discover a bit more of this route.

I think that it was Jack Harrison who commented on someone's thread on UKB about the possibility of a Small Heath butterfly in Small Heath in Birmingham. Well, this route leads towards Small Heath and I am tempted to go back and have a look when they are on the wing.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

Great shots as ever Neil It's great when you 'discover' new little areas and even better when you can investigate them instead of just waiting while mundane things are happening

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Cheers Wurzel, I had an enjoyable little spell around a re-discovered spot this afternoon

Friday 18th April

Good Friday and I was actually at work this morning, although just for half a day as usual for me on a Friday and finished at lunchtime. After going home and getting changed, myself and Jane went round to see my Mom who lives a couple of miles away from us. She still lives in the same house that I grew up in and just down the road there is an area that, back in the 1970s, was mostly undeveloped waste ground where I used to go looking for butterflies when I was a nipper and first started to develop an interest.

Some years back a school was built here which took up about half of the area and the rest was ‘tidied up’ and turned into a recreational park. When our own children were growing up, we would often visit Nan & 'Pop-pop' and would take the kids over the park to play around. Since the kids have grown up it has now been some years since I had looked around this park despite visiting my Mom most Friday afternoons.

This afternoon there was some nice sun, although there was an underlying coolness in the air and it felt rather nippy when the sun disappeared behind the odd cloud. Whilst the women were happy nattering I decided to nip out and stretch my legs and have a nose around the park, taking my camera which I had with me just in case such an opportunity arose.
I was pleased to find that, although the main grassy areas were closely mown, there were some good areas that have been allowed to become wild again with large clumps of nettles and brambles amongst the trees and scrub around the edges of the park.

I spent just under an hour walking a slow circle around here and in that time found 10-12 Peacocks, around half a dozen Small Tortoiseshells and at least 3 Commas plus 2 Speckled Wood and singles of Small and Green-veined White.

I found one Small Tortoiseshell that looked paler than the others which at first I thought was just faded, but looking at the photo below I am not so sure if it is faded or actually in reasonable condition and a bit pale.

Back home later in the afternoon and in the garden there were a couple of passing Orange Tips, or the same one going around again, I really don’t know how you can be sure which. There were also a couple of Green-veined Whites, confirmed as at least 2 different individuals by the fact that one had a damaged wing, plus a single Small white and a Peacock.

My star of the day however was a male Holly Blue that actually stopped and opened his wings just long enough for me to get a couple of quick photos

I see that the first Warwickshire Grizzled Skipper has been reported but I have not seen any Dingy Skippers or Green Hairstreaks reported in these parts yet. I have next week off work so am hoping that the weather picks up again after what is looking to be a dodgy Sunday/Monday and with a bit of luck I can go looking.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Butterflysaurus rex]

What a lovely story Neil, these old places always look so tiny when you re-visit them as an adult don't they. I really like your photo of the Green Veined White.

B'saurus

[Wurzel]

Lovely shots and a Holly Blue too The weather is supposed to get better by next weekend but I wouldn't hold my breath - I swear they just think "it's April so it should be this temp and with this amount of rain so that's what we'll predict for 10 days time" and then when you finally get there...it's all change

Good luck with it anyway - I'm hoping for good weather too for the weekend; it can do what it likes Monday-Friday!

Have a goddun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks Rex, there were certainly a lot of memories there, I know what you mean about always remembering places like that as being bigger.

Cheers Wurzel, I still keep checking the MET office website for forecasts but to be honest I am relying more on what I can see coming on the horizon.

Saturday 19th April

Despite a local forecast for full sun this morning there was a complete blanket of grey cloud and it felt rather nippy. That didn't make much difference to me however as I had to do a little run up to Nottingham to fetch my youngest lad Danny back from Uni for Easter. With the run taking about an hour each way plus the time to load his 'stuff' into the car this meant that it was early afternoon before we were back home again.
On the way back down the M42 the sun had made a few half-hearted attempts to break through the cloud but by the time we were back home the clouds had reasserted their dominance and had even turned a darker grey.
I had been toying with the idea of popping out round to Castle Hills if it looked like it was going to brighten up a bit and eventually with it looking like there was some lighter grey clouds heading our way I made my mind up and went out.

To start with it was still cool and grey but with a few patches of blue sky opening up there started to be a few brief spells of sunshine and I started to see the odd Green-veined White and Orange Tip begin to patrol the hedgerows.

Green-veined White - Castle Hills Solihull 19.04.2014

With the spells of sun getting a bit more frequent I began to look out for an Orange tip that I could keep my eye on so that I could watch where it settled when a cloud came over and hopefully get a photo in that brief few seconds when they open their wings when the sun comes out again.
The first couple that I saw wouldn't play the game and kept disappearing over the hedges and with a large black cloud heading over I was just thinking of starting back when I saw a male Orange Tip a hundred yards or so away and saw him land as the cloud covered the sun. Keeping my eye on the spot I wandered over and found his perch, Bingo
Taking a few photos of his underside I then waited for the sun to reappear which it did about ten minutes later and he performed as expected and slowly opened his wings before taking off again

Orange Tip - Castle Hills Solihull 19.04.2014

Orange Tip - Castle Hills Solihull 19.04.2014

I also found a dozen or so Orange Tip eggs on small plants of Ladies Smock dotted about the damper parts of the meadows so there must be some females about although I didn't see any today.

With the forecast for the next few days looking a bit dodgy I was glad that I managed to get out a bit this afternoon. There was not a great number of butterflies about, Green-veined Whites were the most numerous with about half a dozen seen with about 3-4 each of Orange Tip and Small Tortoiseshell and a single Speckled Wood.

Bye for now,

Neil

[Chris Jackson]

Your tactics paid off Neil. Those are 2 perfect shots.
Cheers, Chris

[Neil Freeman]

Thank you Chris

Orange Tips are one of those butterflies that are easier to photograph with some cloud about...if you can just catch one at the right time. I was fortunate yesterday that the last one that I saw played his role just right

Happy Easter to Everyone

Neil.

[Pauline]

That's a lovely shot of the OT Neil and it looks equally good if you view it in landscape or portrait. The pale ST is very attractive also. Happy Easter to you too (it's tipping it down here right now ).

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks Pauline Very grey here at the moment but no rain yet, it is forecast for later though so we could get anything

Cheers,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

That Orange-tip shot is lush and falls into "one I wish I'd taken" Hope the weather plays ball tomorrow

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks Wurzel, I was chuffed with that Orange Tip, don't you just love it when they perform like they are supposed to

The weather today turned out better than expected too

Monday 21st April

Yesterday (Sunday) started off grey and miserable and got steadily gloomier through the morning until it started raining just after midday. Late afternoon and through the evening it absolutely hammered down and as today was forecast to be similar I was expecting the worst this morning.
I was pleasantly surprised to wake up to a pleasant morning with high cloud that thinned out enough to let some hazy but warm sunshine through. I knew that I would not be venturing far today as I was picking my Mom up to spend the afternoon with us and figured that I would spend some time in the garden.

The weather settled down to a day of high thin cloud with mostly hazy sun although there were a few spells of proper sunshine and it felt warmer than it has done for a while. Popping in and out of the garden through the day produced a steady flow of Green-veined Whites passing through, a few of which would slow down and settle during the cloudier spells.

Green-veined White - Coverdale 21.04.2014

Green-veined White - Coverdale 21.04.2014

A couple of Small Whites also turned up,

Small White - Coverdale 21.04.2014

I was particularly keen to see if there were any more Speckled Wood about since I had not seen any since last week when there had been a couple of males. I am always on the lookout for females in the garden to hopefully ensure their continued presence.

I was pleased to see a number of Specklies during the afternoon and looking through my photos afterwards I have identified 2 different males and 3 females . This is the first time that I have ever seen more females than males in the garden and hopefully looks promising for the next broods.

Speckled Wood male 1 - Coverdale 21.04.2014

Speckled Wood male 2 - Coverdale 21.04.2014

Speckled Wood female 1 - Coverdale 21.04.2014

Speckled Wood female 2 - Coverdale 21.04.2014

Speckled Wood female 3 - Coverdale 21.04.2014

With passing singles of Peacock and Holly Blue plus a couple of male Orange Tips this gave me 6 species in the garden today on a day that looked like it would be a washout this time yesterday. With the rest of the week off work and the forecast looking wet or mixed for the next few days I think I will be taking each day as it comes and see what happens.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Lee Hurrell]

Hi Neil,

Love the first Green Veined White image, wonderful.

Glad to hear your garden Speckled Woods are doing well. About the only thing I miss from Greenford are my garden Speckled Woods! (and the Holly Blues).

Best wishes,

Lee