Going for gold

I set off for Trench Wood again this afternoon, aiming to complete yesterday's aborted mission. But once again I was deflected: as I approached Grafton Flyford it was sunny, and the thought of Willow Emerald Damselflies wandered into my brain and somehow took charge of the driving, causing me to divert into the car park for Grafton Wood almost before I'd noticed it was happening. 

I could, of course, have exited the car park again and proceeded on my way to Trench, which is only a few miles further down the road. But I was there now, and parked, and the Willow Emeralds are coming out at various other local sites, and therefore there was a good chance they'd be out at Grafton as well... so even though I really don't like Grafton Wood, and I always feel like an absolute martyr when I set off on the four-field walk from the car park to the entrance gate, I sighed resignedly, slathered myself in bug repellent, got my binoculars and camera, and set off.

The walk was more interesting than usual, because the farmer has sowed  several of his fields with red clover, lucerne, birds-foot trefoil and some kind of small daisy, and all of these flowering plants were attracting a lot of pollinators. When I reached the wood it was also seething with insects - I counted ten different kinds of butterfly within the first fifteen minutes, including Wood Whites and Silver-washed Fritillaries, though not the Brown Hairstreaks for which Grafton is known - but there were hardly any Odonata about, and no Willow Emerald Damselflies at all. At this point I bumped into a couple of other Worcestershire wildlife photographers I know, and though they were on a Hairstreak hunt they kindly spent a few minutes helping me look for my damselflies - but to no avail. After we parted I spent another half hour or so searching on my own, then called it quits and set off back towards the car.

A few minutes later I caught up with my Hairstreak-hunting friends, who had also drawn a blank in the wood but nonetheless looked as though they'd won the lottery, because they'd spotted that the farmer's green manure had attracted a little group of Clouded Yellow butterflies, which are extremely rare in the Shire. I joined them in scanning for the tell-tale flashes of custard yellow skimming across the clover, stayed so long that I was late back for dinner, and took so many photos it's taken me all evening to process and cull them.

The main image shows a female feeding on the clover, while holding her abdomen up in the posture designed to repel an interested male. And my second photo shows that interested male, who - despite her attitude stating pretty clearly that she'd already mated, and wouldn't be going in for any more of that nonsense, thanks all the same - was doing everything he could think of to attract her attention and impress her, in the hope that she might change her mind. Looking at his self-satisfied expression and rather glazed eyes, I think I may have met the same guy at a party in Buckinghamshire in about 1979, and like this female when she eventually reached the end of her tether, my response was also to leave the area at speed. 

What's interesting about this pair is that they're both extremely fresh, and therefore can be assumed to be UK-bred. Clouded Yellows, which originate in North Africa and Southern Europe, undertake the same kind of rolling migration as the Painted Lady and Red Admiral, breeding as they go. Most summers they reach the southern counties of England, but it's only in exceptional years that they get as far north as this, and it's only in the very far south that they're able to overwinter. The Clouded Yellow has a short breeding cycle of just three months, and it's interesting to speculate that another generation could emerge at Grafton Flyford in late October, if these fields are left unploughed till then. You'll find much more information here about this spectacular butterfly.

And now to the final set of Tiny Tuesday results for this month. In no particular order, my hearts this week go to:

rmeinz 

Ingeborg 

suejay50 

DawnP 

AnnieBelle

And - once again, in no particular order - I'd like to give Honourable Mentions to:

GoranZebuhr 

DonnaWanna 

Hanulli 

Crispin25 

60plus10 

MayIsle

Thanks to everyone who's played this month. I hope you'll all join in again next month, when your hosts will be ApolloFly and NicoiseAnnie - there's a post on the Community pages that lists their themes and tags.