So my plans to head further afield today were scuppered by my complete failure to wake up early!! Rumours I had sponge poisoning were outrageous and largely started by Margie😂😲 So back to the Patch,it would be interesting to see the difference between an evening or morning visit!!! Margie had decided to join me so we set off arriving on "Patch" just after 10.30AM. Disgraceful😂.
I figured today would be all about the insects and so it proved, we headed down the Glades, these are very overgrown with tall vegetation with the path at times almost impassable, very different to last year,no doubt the lush plant life fueled by the wet spring and far less people visiting, I lead the way bravely parting the vegetation despite the constant stinging from the nettles and the pricks from the brambles and thistles, though spare a thought for Margie, being vertical challenged she practically disappeared several times with plants way over her head!! 😂😲 However she was rewarded with some excellent pictures of various bugs the names of which I don't know!! I'm perfectly happy to enjoy the diversity of life on earth without sticking labels on it but if you want to ID some go for it!!!
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| Quite like this 2 hoverflies in a Poppy!! |
The next selection of Pics were taken by Margie
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| The glades, It's a jungle out there! |
For me the highlight of this part of the walk were the Demoiselles, absolutely loads of them,maybe 50 in the half mile walk and more around the rest of the area, this could easily be an underestimate great to see this abundence!
Birdwise the glades are difficult, very overgrown with poor visibility,could here contact calls, brief views of a couple of Whitethroats, Chiffchaffs and Blue Tits the only bird that actually posed was a Jay that came out into the open for a couple of seconds!
Coming out of the Glades into the more open area,mostly grass here, which was full of Marble White Butterflies and Meadow Browns again super abundance with at least 30 Marble Whites in the area near the path, quite a few Skipper types as well!
Continued around the Patch yesterday's or maybe a different Kestrel put in an appearance,didn't pose quite as well today but there you go!
Insects continued to dominate as we walked down Church Lane.
The Swallows were at the church, once again ignoring the tree and sitting on the wires and Hurst Church had nice hazy feel!
The final stretch had a sneaky Whitethroat that I managed a shot of and some good poppy action! The Kestrel appeared and had a hover but never came that close!
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| Common Whitethroat |
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| Margie's take on Wolstonbury Hill |
So that was about that,I forgot to mention I was savaged by a Horsefly but bravely didn't go to A&E!!😢
An enjoyable walk, loads of insects, disappointingly there were no Purple Hairstreaks in the Oak we had em in last year,however the Marble Whites were about two weeks later than last year so fingers crossed they will appear in a couple of weeks!!!
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