Just to see a butterfly...

[eccles]

There's a big emphasis on this forum to photograph butterflies, but today I went out with Denise on probably our last excursion of the season to look for brown hairstreak at Ravensroost Meadow. I'd already visited this spot two weeks ago and knew from a chat with a guy called Wayne where the master tree was. Arriving just before 11am we saw activity straight away. In the next hour or so there were sporadic sightings up in the tree tops with occasional fast and very erratic flights out into the blackthorn, probably of females, that resolutely could not be found afterwards. But it was enough for Denise. She had seen them, with clear positive ID using binoculars. I have seen them before and had hoped for pictures so was a bit disappointed.
We stopped off on the way back at a SWF hotspot that I had previously found in Somerford Common, and were extremely fortunate to find a rather tatty SWF valesina. A nice find, but do you know what gave me the biggest buzz of the day? The two or three peacocks in the same spot as the SWF. They were just absolutely magnificent. I know I can see them in my own back yard, but I just get a real lift from seeing this stunning butterfly every time. And at this time of the year, they're in peak condition, ready to hibernate and give us all a burst of colour in the spring. I didn't photograph any; I've got loads of photos of peacocks; I just enjoyed the fact that they were there.
Peacocks for ever!

[Denise]

It was a fantastic day Mike. Thanks so much for your never ending patience.
Wasn't the SWF-V a great treat to finish the day off? I was thrilled to positivly ID the Brown Hairstreaks.

Cheers
Denise

[Cotswold Cockney]

Please delete ~