Life through the lens...

By ValC

A bevy of butterflies

We just rounded the corner of the path, near the river Went, and suddenly were surrounded by dozens of butterflies, which we had disturbed.
They were having a drink in a small puddle, left behind by last nights rain.
After standing still for a while, they gradually began to return, and so this is my shot of a small group, having a drink. ( small white I think?) with thanks to Mollyblobs, these are green- veined whites, and this is called " puddling".
 This was the highlight of a beautiful day spent walking round Brockadale. 
The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's Reserve. Just off the A1 10 miles north of Doncaster.
An absolute delight, and we had it all to ourselves.
The grassland habitat is now rare, with magnesian limestone only existing in a narrow band stretching from Nottingham to Durham.
Around 350 species of plants grow in the nature reserve.
See extra collage, which includes clustered bell flowers, field scabious, and yellow rock rose among others.
Also extra photo of some of the other butterflies we saw.  The only one I didn't manage to capture was the marbled whites, which were just too fast for me. Managed it last year
We stopped at the pub in Kirk Smeaton for a shandy, and then later had a picnic sat on a bench over looking the bank of wild flowers, which stretched down to the river.
Mr C. watched a kestrel hunting, while I tried to photograph the elusive Marbled white.

The weather was perfect, sunshine, fluffy clouds, and a little breeze.
A wonderful day.
Brockadale web site

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