Middle Street 23-09-2017
When I look back on this trip it is with fondness. It was one of those serendipitous days where you don’t set out to do anything but things fall into your lap. The weather was warm and sunny and it being the weekend and not knowing how long it would last all the family headed out. We didn’t really know where we were going to end up but somehow our feet pointed us in the direction of the Town Path which cuts across Harnham Meadows. It was glorious to see the still lunch green grass and poking out amongst the trees, well more like towering out, was the spire of the Cathedral. On round the Mill we went with the autumnal sun warming our backs and then rather than turning left and completing a circuit which would take us back into town via the Cathedral and The Close we went right and onto Middle Street.
I’d brought my camera, the girls had a jam jar and bright pink fishing net and my wife had a blanket and a good book so we were totally sorted. Once on site my wife found a warm spot to settle back in, the girls headed to the jetty to fish for Minnows and I checked out the dried up pond – a rich source of butterflies early in the season. Today however it was really quiet and it wasn’t until I started round the pond that I located my first butterfly, a tired looking Red Admiral. There was a second flightier one as well but it stayed out of reach, fluttering and landing high on the birch trees rather than down where I could reach it with my lens. I didn’t mind I was feeling lackadaisical and so I mooched back to check in with my wife. I would then make little sorties out to see if the Red Admirals were ready to have their photos taken or to help the girls identify something that had come out of their net. On one such sorties the Red Admirals were ready to grant me an audience and so I finally got some shots which were all the better for the patient wait.
Back at camp the girls were ready to try another jetty and so we moved slightly further along. While they dipped in their new locale I checked out the benches as these seemed quite attractive to the Common Darters. Happy that everyone else was happy I took myself off for a slightly longer foray wandering upstream along the river and cutting down into the Meadow that’s not mown as harshly as the football pitch. It was all quiet it here with only a fly-by UFW, possibly a Small…
Unperturbed I made my way back to camp and then stopped as a little orange jewel bumbled across worn turf. I approached wondering why this Small Copper appeared so orange and when I got up close I could see straight away that it was very lightly spotted. It was hard work keeping up with it as it fed frenziedly at a flower before sprinting to the next source of nectar. I’d just get into position, focus and then maybe if I was quick enough get a shot or two before it was off again. It felt like I’d wound down too soon, I should have kept myself sharp! In the end I found it easier to follow it and then look further ahead in the direction it had been taking and then station myself and wait by any of the few remaining flowers. This paid off and I correctly predicted its movements 3 times out of four and after the fourth I let it go on its way and headed back to collect the girls.
We packed up and somewhat reluctantly started for home, the peace ceased and we came out of the happy little bubble that we’d been in all afternoon. A Comma put in a final goodbye on one of the walls of the houses along the road and then we were back into normality. But what a fantastic afternoon spent with family and butterflies, they don’t come much better than that!
Have a goodun
Wurzel
Hopefully not too long to wait for some of these beauties 
Hopefully this cold snap will be the last and the Small Torts will be out soon 
