Blue Sky, White Clouds

 

I now have to take a break from posting on my Blog and much of my Nature photography pursuits for at least six weeks due to a course of Radiotherapy treatment and continuous Hospital visits.

I will be commenting on other blogs and hopefully posting the occasional set of photos here on this blog and my Flickr site. (See the link at the top of the sidebar on this blog.)

I shall return.😁

A local Walk - Maiden Castle Area

A local walk around the edge of Maiden Castle (site of ancient hill fort) which is about 2 miles from where I live, proved to be quite interesting with a good variety of birds and butterflies.

A bird I don't get to see much around here is the Whitethroat.

This female Brimstone was in the process of egg laying. 

A good specimen of Common Blue was observed in long hillside grass.

The tiny Small Heath butterfly were quite numerous around the area.

This below is a rare view of the Small Heath's upper wings.

I believe this to be a Garden Warbler. I have not seen one for several years and unfortunately it wasn't singing to assist with my identification. So I could be wrong.

This really small immature Wren was a joy to find and photograph.

Three is a crowd.

Gatekeeper Butterflies.

Four is ridiculous.

A sequence of this Woodie bringing nest material to a hedge for what is probably a second brood this year.

Butterfly Squares

This year I was a little late catching up with some local species of Butterfly.

I was particularly pleased with finding a Grayling below which had to be taken with spot metering as it was in a difficult location in relation to the sunlight.

Another species (The Chalk Hill Blue) which appears to have been showing quite early, also caught me out a little. However there were still some reasonable looking specimens around.

A Mating Pair of Chalk Hill.

Common Blue below were also looking a somewhat older as well.

Gatekeepers can be found everywhere now and for an extensive period.

Another Butterfly Walk

Another Butterfly walk on a sunny day with a recorded temperature of 32c.

 

Peacock

Small Tortoiseshell

Comma

Gatekeeper (F)

Gatekeeper (M)

Red Admiral

Meadow Brown

Green-veined White Pair (Mating)

Essex Skipper

Something a little different.

Golden-ringed Dragonfly.

Speckled Wood