Saturday 18th April
The cool breeze from the previous day had dropped and with plenty of sunshine it soon started to feel very pleasant. I had some household and family stuff to do in the morning but managed to have a few looks in the garden, spotting a male Brimstone and Holly Blue passing through. There was also a brief visit from a very light looking, even for spring brood, Speckled Wood female that paused briefly before continuing her travels.
![Coverdale 18.04.2015 005 resize.JPG (771.57 KiB) Viewed 762 times Speckled Wood female - Coverdale 18.04.2015](./files/thumb_10101_0405fdedd3edbe640fb2f70ecdc1fb2c)
- Speckled Wood female - Coverdale 18.04.2015
By early afternoon I was free to get out so headed off to my local spot at Bickenhill. This had been a good spot for Orange-tips last year and I was keen to see if the decent weather of earlier last week (when I was stuck indoors) had brought any more out.
With the temperature on my car reading 14 degrees I arrived at about 2.30pm and set off down the usual footpath, almost immediately spotting a male Speckled Wood. He was a particularly dark individual, looking more like a later summer brood male, and made an interesting comparison with the light looking female in my garden earlier.
![Bickenhill 18.04.2015 024 resize.JPG (662.97 KiB) Viewed 762 times Speckled Wood male - Bickenhill 18.04.2015](./files/thumb_10101_d782e61df3f7369a715c5cb114a93040)
- Speckled Wood male - Bickenhill 18.04.2015
Continuing on along the footpath Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells were again very much in evidence with loads of both species, plus a few Commas seen along the hedgerows and meadows.
![Bickenhill 18.04.2015 247 resize.JPG (520.81 KiB) Viewed 762 times Peacock - Bickenhill 18.04.2015](./files/thumb_10101_d114ee51e06074fe604b3d6210279c93)
- Peacock - Bickenhill 18.04.2015
![Bickenhill 18.04.2015 113 resize.JPG (618.44 KiB) Viewed 762 times Peacock - Bickenhill 18.04.2015](./files/thumb_10101_e7cd7d81f041019d0d3e7d7195af8eb4)
- Peacock - Bickenhill 18.04.2015
![Bickenhill 18.04.2015 229 resize.JPG (605.55 KiB) Viewed 762 times Small Tortoiseshell - Bickenhill 18.04.2015](./files/thumb_10101_86efaa46a2e5bb2df8a37e20405ec099)
- Small Tortoiseshell - Bickenhill 18.04.2015
The Small Tortoiseshell below was another pale looking individual, this being the second pale one I have seen this year after the one I photographed at my other local spot at Castle Hills the other week and posted on the previous page of this diary.
![Bickenhill 18.04.2015 080 resize.JPG (658.53 KiB) Viewed 762 times Small Tortoiseshell - Bickenhill 18.04.2015](./files/thumb_10101_8cd04a9ee3d45968293ff611e30cef30)
- Small Tortoiseshell - Bickenhill 18.04.2015
![Bickenhill 18.04.2015 084 resize.JPG (654.54 KiB) Viewed 762 times Small Tortoiseshell - Bickenhill 18.04.2015](./files/thumb_10101_b0fdb09dc2059bb521bc1be2284adaa6)
- Small Tortoiseshell - Bickenhill 18.04.2015
Following on from some pale individuals seen last year plus other differences noted, it has made me more aware of the variation that can be seen in Small Tortoiseshells, no doubt greatly helped by the numbers that are once again around.
Anyway, it was Orange-tips that I was keen to see and I was not disappointed as I soon saw males patrolling along the hedgerows. There seemed to be plenty of them with at least one in sight nearly all the time but I am wary of stating numbers of species such as this that can patrol back and forth across a large area. In fact I have taken record shots in the past that prove that I have seen the same individual in widely spaced parts of the same site which can give the impression that there are more individuals than there actually are. I took photos today that, looking carefully at afterwards, showed that there were at least six males plus a couple of females wandering around across the area.
With the blue skies and constant sunshine the Orange-tips were typically very mobile and it was not until after 4.00pm that they started to slow down a bit and settle occasionally. It was not really a good day for taking photos of them with the bright sunshine on their white wings making it difficult to get the exposure right. Add to this the fact that I am still getting used to my new FZ200, which despite being very similar to my FZ150 has some differences and, on the same settings, takes a ‘different’ photo, and most of my photos were trial and error shots but in the end I managed a few that I quite liked.
The first one that I saw settle was actually a female and sneaking up on her slowly I had just taken a couple of photos when she was ‘hassled’ by a male. I took a couple of quick shots before he took the hint and left her alone.
![Bickenhill 18.04.2015 132 resize.JPG (589.74 KiB) Viewed 762 times Orange-tip female - Bickenhill 18.04.2015](./files/thumb_10101_a2e973fe72c867dbe00ffe1cf854c4f0)
- Orange-tip female - Bickenhill 18.04.2015
![Bickenhill 18.04.2015 139 resize.JPG (575.97 KiB) Viewed 762 times Orange-tips - Bickenhill 18.04.2015](./files/thumb_10101_0ea7f3b909bd83daf01d22f8bfa29b1e)
- Orange-tips - Bickenhill 18.04.2015
![Bickenhill 18.04.2015 140 resize.JPG (623.65 KiB) Viewed 762 times Orange-tips - Bickenhill 18.04.2015](./files/thumb_10101_98095b6a45e91a786a61a913ba8b6a09)
- Orange-tips - Bickenhill 18.04.2015
A little later a similar thing happened when I had just approached a second female; in fact I think that it may have been the same male again trying his luck, persistent little fellah
![Wink :wink:](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
,
![Bickenhill 18.04.2015 146 resize.JPG (707.65 KiB) Viewed 762 times Orange-tip female - Bickenhill 18.04.2015](./files/thumb_10101_9212f0afac91e24162a9e00e165ce445)
- Orange-tip female - Bickenhill 18.04.2015
![Bickenhill 18.04.2015 152 resize.JPG (811.88 KiB) Viewed 762 times Orange-tips - Bickenhill 18.04.2015](./files/thumb_10101_fe3cfb42b6feb36e8367bb8168e5467d)
- Orange-tips - Bickenhill 18.04.2015
![Bickenhill 18.04.2015 153 resize.JPG (973.53 KiB) Viewed 762 times Orange-tips - Bickenhill 18.04.2015](./files/thumb_10101_ee2fd1d793d2d7e9b733bad47ca456c7)
- Orange-tips - Bickenhill 18.04.2015
I eventually managed to get some reasonable photos of males as they slowed down a bit later in the afternoon,
![Bickenhill 18.04.2015 174 resize.JPG (656.51 KiB) Viewed 762 times Orange-tip male - Bickenhill 18.04.2015](./files/thumb_10101_e9e86c493e9248c67e677f5e36914033)
- Orange-tip male - Bickenhill 18.04.2015
![Bickenhill 18.04.2015 190 resize.JPG (693.2 KiB) Viewed 762 times Orange-tip male - Bickenhill 18.04.2015](./files/thumb_10101_68cebaa5391baa39c1d465e702854773)
- Orange-tip male - Bickenhill 18.04.2015
![Bickenhill 18.04.2015 208 resize.JPG (583.45 KiB) Viewed 762 times Orange-tip male - Bickenhill 18.04.2015](./files/thumb_10101_483edbbc4c785721f92b4e8fb8e3abfa)
- Orange-tip male - Bickenhill 18.04.2015
I eventually did a couple of slow circuits around the site and apart from the species already mentioned I also saw a couple of ‘whites’ which I am sure were Green-veined, although they didn’t stop to confirm one hundred per cent.
Later on back home, after seeing a couple of comments on twitter, I realised that I had missed the Warwickshire BC Spring meeting. For some reason I had got it into my head that it was on Sunday 19th…doh!
Oh well, I had spent all last week cooped up indoors and I really enjoyed being out this afternoon
Bye for now,
Neil.