Cheers, Wurzel - that Small White was dazzling.
Friday 17th April was cool, and very soon turned cloudy and then wet, with the first significant rain in about a month. A quick walk before the rain produced a solitary Speckled Wood, and nothing else. Very nearly a blank day to interrupt the run - but not quite...
Saturday 18th April started off even cooler and the overnight rain had left a lot of puddles. The forecast for the day didn't look that promising, but around half three in the afternoon, it was confounded by the appearance of the sun. Though it was hardly blazing, there was enough of it to warm things up to a reasonable 16 degrees, and spark off some butterfly activity. I found around 40 all told, though only six species. Orange Tips were first off the mark and predominated throughout. I found one roosting on a cuckoo flower plant and waiting for the sun to appear. It was sufficiently comatose to wander onto my finger briefly, but once back on the flower the sun appeared and it quickly opened up before dashing off completely revived. Reviewing the shots, I see that the next generation has squeezed into the frame as well.
Small and Green-veined Whites were also warming up. The former bask on the brambles and make brief forays to and from the dandelions, but the latter flit constantly at low level between flowers and often bask on the flowerheads. After a while you can
fairly reliably tell which is which in flight.
Only a handful of Holly Blues were flying, including this male...
...and I spotted this rather worn one sitting it out.
A very fresh female was also seen, but basking high up in the holly tree mentioned in my earlier posts.
It doesn't take a lot of sunshine to bring out the Speckled Woods - after all they spend a lot of their time in the shade - and I managed this context shot with the River Colne in the background.
A bit further on, another Specklie put up another butterfly - this turned out to be a fresh-looking Red Admiral, but before I could get more than just a record shot, it set off in pursuit of the smaller butterfly.
A few metres further on again, I thought the Red Admiral had returned to sit more amenably for me. It was only after looking closely at the photos later that I am pretty sure this was actually a different butterfly.
Though the shot of the first one is distinctly blurred by distance, the telltale spots of a bialbata are visible when it's enlarged - the second butterfly does not have these. Both butterflies looked new, the second in particular is a lovely velvety creature. Having said in my last post that locally-emerged specimens might be making an appearance at any time, this could well be what these two are. I shall keep my eyes open for more.
Dave
Interesting pint about the sun being more important than the temperature for whites 
Other days there's a real icy tinge to the air but blue sky and the whites are away! 
Cracking shots as usual - I'll be trying the Whispering out in the near future, wish me luck 
Goldie 
