Category: David

The hot weather in Easter week was accompanied by several species of butterflies present in greater numbers than in recent years. This was the first small tortoiseshell butterfly I noticed this year, resting on grass leaf.

Heron which was fishing, thigh-deep on the far side of the canal just outside Bilbrook. I came along the towpath, so it took flight, landing a little further along. As I got another hundred yards further forward, it once again decided I was too close, taking off once again, this time deserting the canal, probably for the nearby Penk.

Speckled wood butterfly slowly flapping wings open and closed, while resting on a nettle leaf to warm itself in the morning sunshine.

Resting on vegetation by the canal towpath at Compton, a holly blue butterfly. The striking blue of their upper wings is only visible when they take flight.

There’s one in the same area every year. Actually, there must be at least two to ensure a fresh generation each year, but I only seem to spot one.

Cobb (male swan) brooding the eggs on the nest on the Sow at Doxey Marshes Nature Reserve, plucking feathers from its back to add to those lining the nest.

Seen on a visit just over a week after https://wolveswild.net/swan-and-nest-doxey-marshes/.

Orange tip butterfly feeding on flowers if one of its favourite food plants, lady’s smock, on Doxey Marshes. I’d seen half a dozen other males that morning, and a single one of the more reclusive females. All the others dhad been moving too fast and unpredictably for me to focus on.