Cheers Wurzel. Funnily enough, I did not mind the travel restrictions that much, I have enjoyed paying more attention to my local spots this year. Yes, I have missed some species but I can live with that, there is always another year.
Thanks David. It's weird how it is quite easy to see some species in cop and not others.
Friday 3rd July.
After the short period of better weather on Thursday afternoon the dark clouds returned and we had some more rain overnight. Friday was back to mostly cloudy with occasional drizzle or light rain to make it another dull and dreary day. Nevertheless, after our Friday morning visit to my Mom, I dropped Jane off at her Mom's and carried on once again to Blythe Valley Park for a walk. My excuse was that despite the dull and wet conditions, I wanted to check out a couple of footpaths that I had previously noticed but not explored before.
I wandered along these paths for a bit and found some nice hedgerows and spotted a few of those dull weather specialists, Ringlets and Meadow Browns, bobbing about. For a few minutes the clouds thinned a bit, not enough for the sun to break though, but enough for me to spot a Marbled White flying over the long grass to the side of the path. Despite the cool and dull conditions he was very flighty but I managed to creep up on him and get a couple of shots.
![Blythe Valley 03.07.2020 012 resize.JPG (572.19 KiB) Viewed 3105 times Marbled White - Blythe Valley 03.07.2020](./files/thumb_10101_7ab36904b75225fccb5e4aa3609b1944)
- Marbled White - Blythe Valley 03.07.2020
The only butterfly I photographed today.
Sunday 5th July.
Saturday was a stop indoors day, not only cloudy and quite cold for the time of year but blowing a gale for most of the day.
Sunday was better in that it was much brighter although the blustery wind was still very much in evidence. It brightened up enough in the afternoon to tempt me out to my local spot at Castle Hills for a couple of hours although the blustery wind was still very much in evidence.
As expected, Ringlets and Meadow Browns were everywhere with probably hundreds of both species flying over the various meadow areas here.
![Castle Hills 05.07.2020 033 resize.JPG (598.68 KiB) Viewed 3105 times Ringlet - Castle Hills 03.07.2020](./files/thumb_10101_89bfa1d1de063bb521ed362fd505342f)
- Ringlet - Castle Hills 03.07.2020
Strangely enough, I didn't see many Skippers here today, just a few each of Large and Small with no Essex spotted amongst them.
![Castle Hills 05.07.2020 071 resize.JPG (568.43 KiB) Viewed 3105 times Small Skipper - Castle Hills 03.07.2020](./files/thumb_10101_ba3633601cd958f5e532c07c50fa8f61)
- Small Skipper - Castle Hills 03.07.2020
Given how fresh many of the Small Skipper were at Bickenhill the other day, perhaps they are just starting here and the Essex not yet emerged ...or perhaps it was just the weather keeping them tucked down in the grass.
Speaking of the weather, a lot of this site is fairly open to the full effect of the blustery wind which meant that any butterfly that ventured out of the grass was quickly whisked away. Those that were settled were either low down in the grass or bobbing about on the end of their perch.
The last time I came here, a couple of weeks ago, I had seen a couple of Marbled Whites and was keen to see how they were doing today, this being one of the first places I had found them at around Solihull when they started spreading here a few years ago. Sure enough, there were plenty here with over fifty counted across a couple of areas. Some of these were in a more sheltered corner of a field where I managed to get some photos even though they were still moving about a fair bit.
![Castle Hills 05.07.2020 018 resize.JPG (556.13 KiB) Viewed 3105 times Marbled White - Castle Hills 03.07.2020](./files/thumb_10101_05c912495d5cfff8398815c143b20f13)
- Marbled White - Castle Hills 03.07.2020
![Castle Hills 05.07.2020 040 resize.JPG (558.08 KiB) Viewed 3105 times Marbled White - Castle Hills 03.07.2020](./files/thumb_10101_161cf8fc947aab00ecd193c8a9379d53)
- Marbled White - Castle Hills 03.07.2020
![Castle Hills 05.07.2020 093 resize.JPG (570 KiB) Viewed 3105 times Marbled White - Castle Hills 03.07.2020](./files/thumb_10101_2c30f87cb939cdbbaa4f8816757cefc9)
- Marbled White - Castle Hills 03.07.2020
![Castle Hills 05.07.2020 089 resize.JPG (622.12 KiB) Viewed 3105 times Marbled White - Castle Hills 03.07.2020](./files/thumb_10101_d668b893eafdf1a6806d81b3004bb26e)
- Marbled White - Castle Hills 03.07.2020
A few Small Heaths were seen, mostly a bit worn looking now so probably between main emergences here which tend to overlap with a peak in June and again in August.
![Castle Hills 05.07.2020 063 resize.JPG (506.05 KiB) Viewed 3105 times Small Heath - Castle Hills 03.07.2020](./files/thumb_10101_208fc779efda76bb18975682320a864b)
- Small Heath - Castle Hills 03.07.2020
Commas and Small Tortoiseshells were also seen, about half a dozen of each, but they were usually blown away into the distance or settled out of reach.
A nice couple of hours despite the blustery wind which almost blew my hat off a couple of times.
Bye for now and stay safe,
Neil.