I am always up for an outing by the coast so when I heard that Graylings were out at Brown Down it gave me the perfect excuse. According to the local weather forecast, Wednesday was to be the best day of the week, so I downed my paint brush and set off. The weather didn’t live up to expectations – it was probably cooler, cloudier and a great deal windier than the forecast but that hardly seemed to matter as I was greeted by many butterflies on the wing despite the early hour. There were many Small and Essex Skippers, clinging on to the shingle in an effort to avoid being blown to goodness knows where and many, many Small Coppers (but no blue spots!!!).
The terrain here is very different to what I have been used to recently. Instead of magnificent views from hill tops or lush meadows filled with wild flowers, it is somewhat stark and harsh. The shingle under foot makes the going difficult (especially when wearing Sketchers tone-ups) so the work-out was a bonus!
It wasn’t too long before I saw my first Grayling – it was quite a distance from the usual hotspots so took me by surprise. The shingle under foot made it difficult to sneak up on these butterflies who seemed to use it as their own personal alarm system!
In the past I have waxed lyrical about the camouflage abilities of this butterfly. I shall not go there again except to say ‘how many butterflies can you spot in this shot?’
It is not easy to get a decent shot of Grayling as this is a more typical pose:
I was on my knees watching the butterflies when I heard the staccato of gunshot fire. This is MOD land but there was no red flag flying. However, I was a little disturbed to look up and see about a dozen guys with guns prowling round the bushes. The gunshots got louder and were accompanied by shouts and what sounded like explosives, smoke filling the air. I was not the only one startled as a family of Green Woodpeckers took to the wing in fright. It was a relief to realise that they were just cadets on a training exercise (hopefully!).
It was time to leave and I was on my way back when I spotted a couple of PH in the small Oak next to me. I stopped to watch for a while and managed a couple of record shots. Given that I had already taken many photos of my reared PH I was more relaxed about the sightings than I might otherwise have been.
As I returned along the shingle I couldn’t resist a photo of this Black-headed Gull on his seaweed tower.
Recalling Bill’s great shots of the Chough I tried to get some detail into this photo but just succeeded in bleaching the gravel.
It is disappointing that my local colony of Grayling is now very small and unreliable but seeing them at this venue more than makes up for it. Great morning, great views and great butterflies.