Butterflies, Birds and the Beautiful British Countryside

After the rather gruesome tone of my last post this one returns to my gentler style. It has been so nice to be able to get out and enjoy the warmth and sunshine in the last couple of weeks but sad that we seem, in the last few days, to have returned to dull and rainy weather once again, such are the delights of living in the UK!

The following photo is one which was left over from a walk on one of the few decent days we had in April. I wasn't the only one who was enjoying a brief spell of sunshine.

Great Tit

Bluebells are well past their best now but were still looking lovely here just a couple of weeks ago when I photographed some lining each side of an old bridleway.

Bluebells

'There is a silent eloquence
In every wild bluebell
That fills my softened heart with bliss
That words could never tell.'

(Anne Bronte)

As regular readers will know, I love butterflies and with the spell of very early good weather in March my hopes were high that this year would be much better for them than last. However, with the dreadful weather throughout April and much of May those hopes were soon dashed. The sunshine and warmth of the last couple of weeks though has seen a rise in fortune for these little jewels of the air and, although I have not seen as many in my area as I would have liked, I have seen a few such as the lovely Orange Tip, one of the first butterflies to be seen in the Spring which hasn't overwintered as an adult. One of its main food sources is the Bluebell.

Orange-tip Butterfly (male)

And this lovely creature is the female, isn't she pretty?

 

Orange-tip Butterfly (female)

The countryside is looking beautiful after all the rain.

Another photo left over from the end of April is this one of a Blue Tit  with a caterpillar in its beak, I just managed the one quick snap before it flew off to feed it to its nestlings.

Blue Tit

'The little Titmouse! the little Titmouse!
What a comical fellow is he!
With his head awry, and his half-closed eye,
As much as to say "I see—
I see the maggot within the green bud;
You cannot, although your sight may he good.
I'm sharper than you, for I'm searching for food,
And I'm hungry very—chee! chee!"'

(Unknown)

Everywhere I go at the moment I seem to flush Pheasants, sometimes I don't know who is the most startled! Just occasionally though I see them before they see me. It was nice to see this pair together but unfortunately they were at a distance and in poor light.

  
Pheasants (male and female)

This male was a bit closer. What a handsome fellow he is!

Pheasant (male)

A bird I don't see very often and which is on the red list of 'birds of conservation concern' is the Grey Partridge. I saw this one at the very end of a walk, I flushed it and its mate and they flew to the end of the field where I managed to get this quick photo just before it disappeared after its mate under a hedge.

 

Grey Partridge

Buttercups may be a common sight in the British countryside but no one can deny they are a cheerful sight especially on a sunny day with their golden heads nodding in the breeze.

Buttercups

'The buttercups with shining face

Smile upward as I pass.

They seem to lighten all the place

Like sunshine in the grass.'

(Sarah J. Day) 

The Speckled Wood is unique among British butterflies, it can overwinter in two stages as both a larva and pupa. This means there is a mixed emergence with adult butterflies on the wing from April to September, with a few adults being seen as early as March or as late as October, especially in the south. I saw this one appropriately, given its name, in woodland.

Speckled Wood Butterfly

I was hoping to get some photographs of the Brimstone Butterfly but although I saw several I couldn't persuade them to stop and have their photos taken. I did see this pretty little Green-veined White though.

Green-veined White Butterfly

'But lo! a white and spangled thing
Was sporting there on tiny wing;
In haste from flower to flower it flew,
And sucked from each the honied dew.'

(Louisa Segrave)

Finally another butterfly and this time one I had never seen before, the Dingy Skipper and in my opinion looking not at all dingy.

Dingy Skipper

Well that's all for now except to say that on the 23rd of May I heard my first Cuckoo of the year, they are so much less common than they used to be here so it was a real thrill to hear and get a brief glimpse of it in a tree just yards from me.

Until the next time...enjoy the beauty of Nature, wherever you are.