Re: Padfield
Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2015 7:51 pm
I had to go to the valley this afternoon to sort out some final business for my naturalisation (this is a long process, it turns out, but I think now approaching the end ...) and as it was sunny zoomed along to the site where I usually see precocious grizzled skippers. There weren't any there, though the foodplant (Potentilla recta, I think, here) carpeted the slopes and they cannot be long off now. Or perhaps I was just too late in the day. I did see lots of large tortoiseshells, small tortoiseshells, Queens and commas, as well as a few small whites and green-veined whites, my first of the year.
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2015/potentilla24march2015a.jpg)
(A typical grizzled skipper site)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2015/polychloros24march2015b.jpg)
(large tortoiseshell)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2015/calbum24march2015d.jpg)
(comma)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2015/napi24march2015a.jpg)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2015/pasqueflower24march2015b.jpg)
(Pasque flower)
The crag martins have returned ...
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2015/cragmartin24march2015c.jpg)
... but had to compete with a helicopter the whole time I was there:
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2015/helicopter24march2015d.jpg)
Dreadful noise!
This is a late spring by recent standards - 2015 started generally cold. But now we've passed the equinox things do seem to be picking up. I might just be able to fit in one trip to Italy for nettle tree butterflies before I come back to Suffolk for yellow-legged tortoiseshells ...
Guy
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2015/potentilla24march2015a.jpg)
(A typical grizzled skipper site)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2015/polychloros24march2015b.jpg)
(large tortoiseshell)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2015/calbum24march2015d.jpg)
(comma)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2015/napi24march2015a.jpg)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2015/pasqueflower24march2015b.jpg)
(Pasque flower)
The crag martins have returned ...
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2015/cragmartin24march2015c.jpg)
... but had to compete with a helicopter the whole time I was there:
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2015/helicopter24march2015d.jpg)
Dreadful noise!
This is a late spring by recent standards - 2015 started generally cold. But now we've passed the equinox things do seem to be picking up. I might just be able to fit in one trip to Italy for nettle tree butterflies before I come back to Suffolk for yellow-legged tortoiseshells ...
Guy