Cheers Guy and David
The butterfly was sitting on the edge of the spolier so perhaps it was acting like a parabolic mirror?
Sorry to do your head in
Cheers Trevor
I had another great sighting from the car yesterday - a Stone Curlew no less
That goes on the list with Clouded Yellow, Ring Ouzel and Monty's Harrier
Cheers Goldie
I did leave the screwheads in the shot as a clue
The Peacock on the car was just a coincidence, I took the shot of the butterfly and only noticed the reflections later
08-04-2015 The Devenish and Five Rivers
Back home and into the familiar routine...jobs in the morning followed by a trip out over lunchtime with K. The jobs today were mainly tip runs (sorry – recycling centre visits) in readiness for the big clear out of our courtyard garden. Even while I was chucking wood into the appropriate skip I was checking the surrounding trees but nowt was about.
K (my older daughter) decided that we should try The Devenish so off we set stopping on the way briefly to check on the progress of the Cuckoo Flowers at the site I discovered last year. Sadly it was bereft of OTs and Cuckoo Flowers too so we carried on our way. The Devenish was hard work, and I don’t just mean the long slog up the side of the down. The little paddock housed only a single, edgy Peacock by the wood pile and the meadow only had a few Brimstones knocking about with another edgy Peacock. We checked the Down, more for the view than for butterflies and a Peacock played a brief game of Peek-a-boo with us. It would circle us really closely before sailing down the hill and dropping into the grass. Having relocated it and after a few shots it repeated the manoeuvres. We both agreed that Five Rivers might be more fruitful and K assured me that we would see a Comma there...
At Five Rivers it was a case of from one extreme to another; from edgy, flighty butterflies in single figures we observed butterflies all over the place! The bank leading to Comma Corner threw up a Peacock and 2 Small Tortoiseshells but the best thing was there was finally a grounded Comma at Comma Corner. Further along the banks there were two more Commas and the banks also held up to 8 ST’s and a Brimstone did a quick fly-by to represent the Whites. After noodling round here for a bit we then branched out and headed across the reserve to the far side.
Further round the back it was a far bit quieter with another Comma and a further 6 Small Torts scattered about. But we stopped counting after that to prevent counting then butterflies twice and also so we could just enjoy them.
On our final lap of the Banks we took a cut up the side of the Banks and as we did something blue went by. I thought at first that it was a very early Common Blue but the Hairstreak like flight soon had me re-identifying it as a Holly Blue which in terms of timing was much more expected but in terms of Five Rivers was even rarer than a Common Blue in March! To make it even more unusual it stopped fluttering round the tree-tops and landed on the grass a behaviour I’ve never seen before.
After this we headed home stopping briefly for a final Comma at where else but Comma Corner.
When I got home there were plenty of shots to sort through...not only my shots but also those taken by K...
- K 1
- K 2
- K 3 She really got the hang of it, I wish I'd taken this one!
Have a goodun
Wurzel
