Butterflies at Daneway pub

I went to sleep after 2am this morning after getting too carried away with online research. So stupid, as I knew Cowgirl would be visiting us early this morning for a blipmeet arranged by Woodpeckers. Then I woke about 7am, and not being able to sleep, I got up to make tea. I was still very tired.

Cowgirl did duly arrive early, and so my day began there in earnest with making strong coffee all round. She and Helena then went for a Woodpeckers guided tour of Stroud, visiting the back streets, the charity shops, the Lock Keeper's cafe and walking along the canal back to Waitrose and then home. They brought a snack lunch for us all and after we had eaten we set off for a round trip up the lanes of the Slad valley, across to Bisley, WaterLane and then the upper reaches of our River Frome, before descending down to the valley bottom and then to the Daneway pub.

It was originally named 'The Bricklayers Arms' in 1807, in honour of the men who dug and then lined the locks of the Thames and Severn canal and the interior of the nearby 2¼ mile Sapperton Tunnel, with bricks transported, by barge, from Stroud. An earlier set of cottages was converted into lodgings by the men who guided the barges through the tunnel, there being no towpath along which horses or donkeys would normally walk. These men were known as leggers from the practice of lying on their backs on boards sticking out from the sides of the barges and legging or walking the barges along the sides of the tunnel. Apparently we should also beware of the ‘Grey Lady’, who is seen to come through the nearby canal bridge!

Now the pub is a delightful and very tranquil spot for walkers and possibly a few locals who descend from Sapperton village, perched high up above the river. I have been visiting the pub since 1975, very intermittently, whenever I return to the Stroud area. I always enjoy it. But today we put off our imbibing of Wadworths ale until we had walked the few hundred yards along the remnants of the canal cut as far as the portal of the tunnel entrance under Sapperton Hill. I explained to Cowgirl that potentially this canal may be resurrected in due course, if all the plans and schemes come to fruition. I'm not sure I will still be around by then, but I really hope it happens.

When we returned to the pub and sat out in the garden, I noticed a large shrub was attracting hordes of butterflies. I have been avoiding blipping them this year as they are so prevalent, which I am very pleased about, but they do appear on a lot of blips. However I couldn't resist a quick look and when I saw this rather unusual brown butterfly and its setting, I had to take a few shots. 90% of the butterflies there were the usual peacocks and cabbage whites, But there were three of these lighter brown ones and I saw them fluttering around together all over the gardens as if in an intricate mating ritual.

On leaving the pub, I went to the gents, and the others returned to the car and I then proceeded to drive off without my camera and bag! I was a few miles away before I realised, and drove straight back to find the publican rather amused. He had soon found them and taken them upstairs to his accommodation and knew I would be back. I had dropped Helena and Cowgirl at an old mill in Chalford whilst I turned back and once I'd picked them up again we went on down the valley to another old mill for a few more shots. But I knew that I had a shot of this butterfly already as my blip. I was rather sad to see how 'moth-eaten' it now looks and possibly it won't live for much longer. But it was certainly having a good time at the Daneway while it could.

I think it is a Silver-washed Fritillary, Argynnis paphia, and not too rare or threatened.