Speckled Wood (2)

Back to work today. On the news this morning they said that 1 in 3 workers had booked today as leave.....well we had a full house in our little office - even the one on maternity leave popped in complete with smiley baby.

Sunny but colder at lunchtime. Went for a wander in the local lanes and could have stayed out all afternoon. The vegetation has exploded - everything is knee high on the verges and lots of bluebells, hawthorn and other flowers about. I heard a cuckoo again (first time on Wednesday). There were lots of butterflies around - tricky work stalking the white ones but the speckled browns seemed to be happy to sit and sun themselves. This is the second one I've blipped (speckled wood 1) but I prefer this one as the colours are richer and the background is better (leaves rather than bare ground). The Butterfly Conservation Website says that 'The male usually perches in a small pool of sunlight, from where it rises rapidly to intercept any intruder' - I certainly witnessed this behaviour as this one flew up as soon as it saw another passing white butterfly and started battling.