A relaxing morning and then off to Keelby. Dropped Heather off and picked Brian up to go to Winter's Pit and East Halton Skitter on the Humber Bank. It was a very pleasant session. I hanged to take some pleasing shots of black-tailed godwit and lapwing and then drove round to the Skitter Beck, getting grey partridge on the way. We managed 30 species in a short session.
Rain overnight but a very pleasant day with sunny intervals, 23C. I went for a walk around the woodland burial ground and Gooseman's field looking for butterflies. An excellent session with 78 individuals from 11 species. The highlights were small heath, common blue, brown agus, painted lady and small/Essex skipper.
A good drive down to Frampton to meet up with Malcolm and Maureen. It was a pleasant day of weather at 22C, but Frampton is suffering. The lagoons are all drying up and the wardens are unable to top them up from their reservoir as the pump is broken. Despite things being very quiet we managed to find 35 species.
Church cleaning, Heather, and picking up Mia. I stopped off to pick Heather up on the way home but not before she had a soaking from a sudden torrential downpour.
The rain soon cleared and I went round to the Woodland Burial Ground to look for the purple hairstreaks that a friend had given me a tip off for. I found 2: 1 very worn female and 1 high up and tucked behind a leaf making it very difficult to photograph but a success nonetheless. I managed a big butterfly count at the same time.
It was a lovely morning on 16th which allowed us to get packed up in the dry. Once loaded up we set off for Farfield Mill near Sebergh (one of our favourite places) for lunch. As we were only travelling as far as Wharfdale we had time for a good potter around.
A rainy morning today. When it dried up in the afternoon we went for a very pleasant walk along the lane and through the wood, returning via Ratherheath Lane. There were a couple of people fishing on the tarn and it looked very tempting. I understand that day tickets can be bought and it holds carp to 25lbs, tench to 4lbs+, bream to 6lbs+, roach rudd, perch and crucian carp. I wonder what state my fishing tackle is in?!
We had a whole area power outage in the evening and as our battery is flat and needs renewing, it caused no little inconvenience. We also ran out of gas which was another problem. We did enjoy playing cribb by torchlight, though.
Another megahot day yet again, although more humid. 28C. We decided to visit Eaves Wood, partly because there would be shade, but also, because it had been recommended as a good site for butterflies. Both correct; the mistake we made
As we were so close it would have been rude not to include a second visit to the Albion and then home for another BBQ.
