Sunday 13th April 2014
Today is the first Orange Tip day proper around my side of Crawley,(a pretend confidence now!).
Down to the Broadfield pond area,sporadic sun and a bit chilly around about 10.15,a quick check on the Specklies and the colony now up to about 16 individuals,i think.
Heres some,I won't get bored of these little beauties so expect plenty more!
![13042014 Broadfield Pond (3)XRZ.jpg (322.21 KiB) Viewed 1345 times Broadfield Pond Speckled Wood 1](./files/thumb_12157_90f4fd503e2d0401a46b07d60f9f9ccc)
- Broadfield Pond Speckled Wood 1
![13042014 Broadfield Pond (5)XRZ.jpg (231.25 KiB) Viewed 1345 times Broadfield Pond Speckled Wood 2](./files/thumb_12157_058c4c62c099189808e0ea9b437f8247)
- Broadfield Pond Speckled Wood 2
The sun was now appearing in longer spells and starting to warm up,I had a wander around the open meadow at the site and noted a couple of whites,hurry up cloud!
Cloud came and I tracked one of the whites into the undergrowth,my first small white of the year photographed.
![13042014 Broadfield Pond (34)XRZ.jpg (144.29 KiB) Viewed 1345 times Broadfield Pond Small White 1](./files/thumb_12157_92dddd4502e2c427a13acc1c2144b62f)
- Broadfield Pond Small White 1
![13042014 Broadfield Pond (71)XRZ.jpg (143.51 KiB) Viewed 1345 times Broadfield Pond Small White 2](./files/thumb_12157_a620d21b0222e21b0743462351adfef7)
- Broadfield Pond Small White 2
You know that funny prancing thing you do when you see a butterfly go down when clouds appear,i did that,a local jogger gave me a weird look.
The sun then appeared and the whites were off with a vengeance,lost sight of them,headed back to the pond to the Cuckoo flower patch's,but not before stumbling upon another Speckly!
![13042014 Broadfield Pond (98)XRZ.jpg (183.46 KiB) Viewed 1345 times Broadfield Pond Speckled Wood 3](./files/thumb_12157_ebb893393e7c843981c70528b44927b9)
- Broadfield Pond Speckled Wood 3
I flanked the pond and the first Male Orange Tip of the day shot past me,,,,,,,,,,,,,,oh no,one of those days!I still chase occasionally if it's promising,or is just early season joy!
Got to the Cuckoo Flower boggy area and stood and watched,the same male returned and headed straight down to the plants,a tustle with a female,and he was off,leaving me with the less excited female.11.15 this was.
![13042014 Broadfield Pond (134)XRZ.jpg (139.38 KiB) Viewed 1345 times Broadfield Pond Orange Tip Female 1](./files/thumb_12157_7dab7866978ef8ba6134f14b7bfc6108)
- Broadfield Pond Orange Tip Female 1
![13042014 Broadfield Pond (174)XRZ.jpg (154.85 KiB) Viewed 1345 times Broadfield Pond Orange Tip Female 2](./files/thumb_12157_32bc65030ae093176fda298980c25ead)
- Broadfield Pond Orange Tip Female 2
She was the only one,i did get lucky with one male,there were 3 by now,but after this it was futile!
![13042014 Broadfield Pond (225)XRZ.jpg (149.08 KiB) Viewed 1345 times Broadfield Pond Orange Tip Male 1](./files/thumb_12157_c4c49456d4a630e565d43786160a2ffb)
- Broadfield Pond Orange Tip Male 1
Realising now was a good time for a spot of lunch,i went home and decided it may be prudent to go to Willoughby Fields and have a look at the vast banks of Cuckoo Flower there.
An enjoyable afternoon in blazing sunshine was had with half a dozen females and probably about the same males,got lucky really as nothing was staying still for long.
![13042014 Willoughby Fields (39)XRZ.jpg (124.69 KiB) Viewed 1345 times Willoughby Fields Orange Tip Female](./files/thumb_12157_15e8641c556f8ca2f2f5b4090695714d)
- Willoughby Fields Orange Tip Female
![13042014 Willoughby Fields (59)XRZ.jpg (150.92 KiB) Viewed 1345 times Willoughby Fields Orange Tip Male](./files/thumb_12157_c989a8ca4b17060042638a64c1630f29)
- Willoughby Fields Orange Tip Male
Cuckoo Flower vastness.
![13042014 Willoughby Fields (66)RZ.jpg (417.75 KiB) Viewed 1345 times Orange Tip stuff](./files/thumb_12157_274e9a5c4938e89864ce4e09887b4794)
- Orange Tip stuff
At this point I pondered hanging round to see if I could catch some roosters,but the sight is rather large and I thought a trip back to Broadfield may be the better option.So that was that.
I got back to the Broadfield site just as they were settling down and noted one deep down and managed the shot.
![13042014 Broadfield Pond 2 (16)XRZ.jpg (174.54 KiB) Viewed 1345 times Broadfield Pond Orange Tip Male 2](./files/thumb_12157_5a8284bec26f3f370d4af03dff4ee9c5)
- Broadfield Pond Orange Tip Male 2
And one just hanging round before a Comma came along and he sprung into action!
![13042014 Broadfield Pond 2 (3)XRZ.jpg (190.46 KiB) Viewed 1345 times Broadfield Pond Orange Tip Male 3](./files/thumb_12157_ceeda5c2d1bff03ff5413971366d7676)
- Broadfield Pond Orange Tip Male 3
Aforementioned ruiner..........of good shot,so I took one of him instead!
![13042014 Broadfield Pond 2 (27)XRZ.jpg (1.84 MiB) Viewed 1345 times Broadfield Pond Comma](./files/thumb_12157_c055844a4f4510c08194e3b687bc3d20)
- Broadfield Pond Comma
I like Orange Tip days, think I might go all exotic over Easter and head for the South Downs maybe.....
Thanks