Many thanks all for the comments
Holly Blues are one of those species that has me reaching for the camera as soon as I see one. Of course, most times I end up putting it down again as the butterfly carries on its way...
...but every now and then
Wednesday 23rd April
At the Warwickshire BC Spring meeting a couple of weeks ago it was requested if some members could fill in some of the gaps on the map with sightings, in readiness for a new Warwickshire Butterfly Atlas in 2015. A couple of days later Keith Warmington, the county recorder, emailed me the tetrads around Solihull to look at.
This morning with a high covering of scattered clouds showing lots of small bits of blue sky I went out to have a look at around a couple of these spots.
The first place that I visited was at Bickenhill, just south of Birmingham airport and was a square that had only had one species, Brimstone, recorded so far. I parked up and followed a public footpath to a couple of meadows that I had seen on Google Earth that looked promising.
By 10.30am it was starting to warm up with some nice sunny spells although there was a bit of a blustery wind from the south-west which made taking photos a bit of a challenge.
I spent about one and a half hours here in the end and saw easily twenty plus Small Tortoiseshells, probably about a dozen Orange Tips including a couple of females, and half a dozen or so each of Peacocks and Green-veined Whites.
![Bickenhill 18.04.2014010 resize.JPG (492.66 KiB) Viewed 1227 times Small Tortoiseshell - Bickenhill 23.04.2014](./files/thumb_10101_ea26048ac7277885e83add228058137d)
- Small Tortoiseshell - Bickenhill 23.04.2014
![Bickenhill 18.04.2014097 resize.JPG (663.83 KiB) Viewed 1227 times Small Tortoiseshell - Bickenhill 23.04.2014](./files/thumb_10101_368465561342a3459a0c5ad2339a87ac)
- Small Tortoiseshell - Bickenhill 23.04.2014
![Bickenhill 18.04.2014092 resize.JPG (498.76 KiB) Viewed 1227 times Peacock - Bickenhill 23.04.2014](./files/thumb_10101_48f2a7de6439dbb1afbee35f42b5af77)
- Peacock - Bickenhill 23.04.2014
![Bickenhill 18.04.2014030 resize.JPG (502.71 KiB) Viewed 1227 times Orange tip female - Bickenhill 23.04.2014](./files/thumb_10101_821d0df03e80d1b48912664b7c769430)
- Orange tip female - Bickenhill 23.04.2014
![Bickenhill 18.04.2014036 resize.JPG (575.47 KiB) Viewed 1227 times Orange tip female - Bickenhill 23.04.2014](./files/thumb_10101_520a2b07270aa2a78cf4bf8595bbc793)
- Orange tip female - Bickenhill 23.04.2014
![Bickenhill 18.04.2014111 resize.JPG (559.34 KiB) Viewed 1227 times Orange tip male - Bickenhill 23.04.2014](./files/thumb_10101_f70af0223352ddc4d130921ab6d9da65)
- Orange tip male - Bickenhill 23.04.2014
![Bickenhill 18.04.2014123 resize.JPG (542.91 KiB) Viewed 1227 times Orange tip male - Bickenhill 23.04.2014](./files/thumb_10101_8c714d71da196f8d95fe336c814a8aa6)
- Orange tip male - Bickenhill 23.04.2014
![Bickenhill 18.04.2014128 resize.JPG (498.91 KiB) Viewed 1227 times Orange tip male - Bickenhill 23.04.2014](./files/thumb_10101_7e4f44f199195fc56e11b480f8666868)
- Orange tip male - Bickenhill 23.04.2014
![Bickenhill 18.04.2014132 resize.JPG (512.22 KiB) Viewed 1227 times Orange tip male - Bickenhill 23.04.2014](./files/thumb_10101_ffccd0dc8761b6b38f582b571b9e5d6f)
- Orange tip male - Bickenhill 23.04.2014
It was not until I looked at the photo above afterwards that I noticed the egg.
At one point I watched a male Orange tip trying it on with a female Green-veined White until she gave him the slip and flew off. I managed to get a photo, not that good but an interesting one I think.
![Bickenhill 18.04.2014045 resize.JPG (631.14 KiB) Viewed 1227 times Confused male Orange tip - Bickenhill 23.04.2013](./files/thumb_10101_0703b0b0ff7b27b9688a7af712ab5a06)
- Confused male Orange tip - Bickenhill 23.04.2013
Not long afterwards I found a pair of Green-veined Whites as they should be...
![Bickenhill 18.04.2014061 resize.JPG (528.33 KiB) Viewed 1227 times Green-veined White pair - Bickenhill 23.04.2014](./files/thumb_10101_9651a3b5f08ec26c97a8850e35d73778)
- Green-veined White pair - Bickenhill 23.04.2014
There were just the four species seen today but a very pleasant morning at a spot which will certainly be worth visiting again later in the summer.
At midday, with some heavier cloud building up I decided to head off to another spot on the other side of Solihull that had not had any butterflies recorded so far. By the time I arrived there was some light rain in the air so I just checked some Cuckoo Flower in a field and found some Orange tip eggs. Walking back to the car in a lull in the rain I spotted a ‘white’ fluttering along a hedge and settle on some nettles. This proved to be a Green-veined White which at least gave me two species to record in this square despite the now gloomy and wet conditions.
With the recent weather around here slowing the season back to something looking more 'normal', I am still waiting for Green Hairstreaks and Dingy and Grizzled Skippers to get going around the midlands. In the meantime I will continue to admire all the quality photos in other diaries
Bye for now,
Neil.