butterflies are back!

Tuesday 16th March

Today I was starting back to work and noticed the forecast was high temps and sunshine. Possibly a butterfly day?! But I can't call in sick on day 1 of a new job. (Well not with any shred of professional integrity, although I did consider it.) What to do? I was working near the Hermitage, so managed to carry my camera in on my bike as well as a fuck-ton of paint and kit. Plan was to nip out to eat my sandwiches by the walled garden 1.4 miles away. That'll work? 

Before I even finished my first sandwich there was a fluttering up on the third shelf. I jammed the food in and munched as I climbed the steps on the right up to where a Small Tort sat sunning itself. Hurray! First butterfly of the year. It flew off before I could get any decent shots but at least I recorded one actual butterfly, (about 3 days ahead of last year's first on March 19th.) I think there were a couple of other fly-bys before I noticed the comma basking on the lowest shelf and chasing off any other insects and butterflies that had the cheek to invade its airspace. 

plenty bees on blooms

comma

peacock

I was pleased to have seen the 3 likeliest of the season's opening batters and all in the time it took to eat my sandwiches. However I wanted to check progress on the riverside butterbur so cycled downstream to the Howe Dean Bridge that crosses the stream and pushed my bike a little bit upstream till I could padlock it out of harm's way against a tree. I walked further upstream till I got to the area I had last seen a week ago when it was flooded. It was drying out well and the butterbur was in flower. A couple of butterflies flew up and I got my camera out. I spent a short while taking pics of the 2 or 3 remaining specimens then jumped on my bike and cycled furiously back to the grindstone!

I hadn't thought I had taken long enough to get any good pics so was quite surprised when they turned out to be better than anticipated. So often it is the other way round - what you think is going to be ace turns out to have motion blur or have focussed on a twig and not the subject. It did help it was lovely weather and the new camera does a great job of seeming to know what I was trying to focus on. Anything fairly central popped up quite sharp. 

I have to admit to feelings of reservation. This is strange and I may well get shunned or excommunicated by my Aurelian pals but I didn't get the massive boost I expected when I saw these first butterflies of the year. I was anticipating I'd be cock-a-hoop for the rest of the day, hell, for the rest of the week. And yet... it felt a little hollow. 

Not so I tossed my camera in the river and decided to take up crochet. It wasn't a big thing, but it was a slight hint that some of the excitements I have for a few years now associated solely with butterflies; some of the glitter had rubbed off along the way. I know - it's kind of sacrilegious - and I found the feeling itself less incongruous than the realisation, so I wasn't reeling like a gambler who wakes as from a living nightmare to declare he will never make another wager. I just didn't get as big a hit as I anticipated from the first flutter in 6 full months.

I had an inkling it was the birds who stole my butterfly mojo too. The interaction with robins more specifically. You can see the light in their eyes - they give you feedback. You spend ages on the phone talking about mutual friends and plans for the Summer. Well maybe not. But there is a 2 way street and the danger here is these wee bits of coloured paper flap about in a robotic way, and there is less feedback. Also they are harder to follow than a straight-line flying bird; suddenly zig-zagging over a cryptic background and - they've disappeared. How did I forget that? That's not fun. It's almost as if they're trying to remind me of the frailty of my eyesight. Flipping and winking out of existence while I stand open mouthed and camera pointed nowhere. I had forgotten their portals and mystical ways. 

I am pleased to report the feeling was not a major revelation and if I had to score the day out of ten it would be up in the top numbers. Higher again when I saw the photos. And 2 days later when I revisited the same 2 sites on Thursday lunch-break and there were some great specimens posing in a slightly more user friendly manner, I almost couldn't have told you there was a space wide enough to slip a playing card between the pleasures of last season and this. So let's not talk about it again. I am back on track and really excited about having the whole butterfly season ahead and possibly (fingers crossed) the chance to see them uninterrupted by the pandemical restrictions we had last year. It was just a blip and maybe I was just tired or had the manopause. It won't happen again! (I hope.) (Fairly sure! Yep, the words Orange Tip make my mouth go dry. It'll be fine. Just nerves and being back working after months of not working.) Just ignore my blip. Normal service has resumed.

older more knackered specimen