Brown’s Folly 20-04-2024
My wife and K fancied a visit to Bath and so I was to be the taxi service. Once we’d located the Park and Ride despite the best efforts of the SATNAV to thwart us I dropped them off and then had 5 or so hours to explore an entirely new site. I was hoping to find an early Grizzlie and so I’d chosen a site which apparently held this species as well as Greenstreaks and with a good mix of habitats; Brown’s Folly. It meant driving through the city and out the other side and for some of the way I had to traverse the Zone C with its signs threatening legal action if the fees weren’t paid
but eventually I was driving up a very narrow and ridiculously steep road to the small car park perched on the side of the hill. From here there was a stroll up a much less steep rise through an open beech wood and while I walked I also checked on the internet and was reassured that the Zone C fee didn’t apply to my car – phew!
As I reached the top of the rise the track that I was only veered sharply to the left, carrying on along the top of the hill, but I went though the gate and started down wooden stairs cut into the hillside, admiring the breathtaking vista as I went. Though the sun was shining in a blue sky there was still a nip in the air so I was hoping that radiant would win out of ambient heat. About half the way down something small and dark flashed past and there was something about the ‘jink’ that made me exclaim ‘Greenstreak’. I kept and eye on it and it landing on a supporting post of the barbed wire fence. I tried to approach it but even in the cool of the morning it was still very twitchy and after a few distant record shots it was off to the other side of the fence and I lose it amongst the unfurling green leaves. Still, I was off the mark as it were.
I completed my descent and then walked over the closely cropped turf as it undulated between long extinct workings. This area of the site seemed to consist of this terrace with a near vertical cliff (with caves to boot) on one side and a steep hill terminating in a wood at the bottom. I trawled across the old workings, this way and that, examining every patch of Wild Strawberry or Dandelion along the way but all I found was a Peacock right at start of my ramblings. As I reached the other side of the quarry area on my third pass I took the diagonal path that cut across the steep hill down towards the very bottom of the quarry area. The path came to a gate from whence it dove back into the surrounding wood so because the quarry area had proved so quiet I carried on following the ride. After about 100 metres I passed through 2, possibly 3, different Peacock territories, found a Specklie and seen two male Holly Blues (unfortunately all were up high). This gave me the sense that things had finally started waking up and so I started back following a fork in the track which brought me back to the quarry about half way along the bottom fence.
Once back in the quarry I worked along the fence line at the bottom, scrubby grasses on one side and on the other a short sere into woodland with some transitional Hawthorns just within arms reach. As is often the way I was about to call it quits here when in the corner I spotted a familiar looking emerald triangle in the penultimate Hawthorn. It was a bit of a pain, being slightly too high and slightly too far for my lens. But that’s the good thing about Greenstreaks – you seldom have to wait long for them to change position. This time the one I was watching was forced from it’s perch by a second that flew in from where I don’t and so they both set off across the thin turf scarping for all they were worth. When they drifted apart one landed lower down whilst the visitor reseated themselves on the Hawthorn. I spent a bit of time here cursing the choice of perch and the fence that prevented me getting closer in equal measure.
With one or three Greenstreak shots on the memory card and the day warming up nicely I decided to another check around the upper part of the site. I wandered right to the top to the Folly and then along the middle terrace like part of the quarry. At the end with the wooden stairs I spotted a flash of light blue and as I drew nearer I could see a Holly Blue which was intent on sampling some of the delicacies left behind by the resident goats. As it kept going down to the deck I knelt down and waited for it to come close enough to grab a few shots and eventually it complied stopping within crawling distance a couple of times. I then cut back down the steep hill with both male and female Brimstones on the way down, a passing Orange-tip at the bottom before I found a handy rock to set up lunch on. As I enjoyed my coffee and munched down on the Mixed pickle sandwich a brace of Peacocks entertained me, dinner and a show almost.
Refreshed and replenished I started back along the bottom fence line with the aim of relocating a Greenstreak. As I stared at the penultimate Hawthorn I found a Greenstreak. But something didn’t look right and as I drew near I discovered why – there wasn’t just one but two Greenstreaks, Greenstreaks in cop a first for me! Now I doubly cursed the fence and their choice of lofty boudoir! However providence struck and a third Greenstreak passed by and tried to get in on the action displacing the couple. I watched with bated breath as they took off, still coupled, and flew up and around the Hawthorn. Then they reappeared and drifted down, down, down to the ground into the grass. Even luckier their move had confused the potent love rival and so after a little gentle pruning I was able to click away to my hearts’ content garnering plenty of images of the happy couple.
Once I’d taken more than enough photos, then a few more as well just to be sure and then a final set to be sure to be sure I started dawdling my way back to the car park taking the woodland ride that I briefly ventured along before. This time I was greeted by a Peacock which was holding the first territory and then a Large White which bombed along the track before ducking down to take a few quick sips of nectar from various of the Dandelions. I carried on along the track through 2 more Peacock territories with each sitting diligently on the track. As I would get close, probably to within a metre they would take off and fly slightly further along the path, only to repeat the behaviour as I continued to progress until they breached their neighbours territory. Then both would spiral up into the heavens until they ran out of steam, would detach and drift lazily back down their respective spots. As I walked I was also joined by at least three Orange-tips one of which paused at nearly every single Herb Robert plant on the verge. This proved to be a very reliable way to try for some shots. I’d watch it start nectaring and then make my way gingerly towards it, clicking as I went, almost a more cautious form of the ‘Click-step’. The difference this time was that if it took off there was a very good chance it would land only one or two plants over. When it got to the end the patch it would move rapidly off only to call in at the next clump and repeat the whole procedure again.
As I moved further into the wood I added a brace of Holly Blues and both a male and female Brimstone. Then came I slight change as instead of walking into the wood I must have started walking out of it. It’s hard to describe but there seemed to be slightly more light, there was a slight increase in the movement of air and in amid the birdsong the faintest of urban noise started to filter through. Specklies also started showing up now as well as another Large White, a male, sitting atop a Garlic Mustard. The penultimate butterfly was a gorgeous and brightly marked female Specklie before I finished with a flourish of a male Orange-tip racing me into the car park.
Pleased despite my lack of a Grizzlie I loaded up shipped out, feeling much happier traversing the city in the knowledge that I’d had a good day and also that there wasn’t a charge waiting for me for driving in a C Zone. I wonder if the girls want to do another shopping trip to Bath?
A lack of Grizzlies
But a coupling of Greenstreaks
Saved the day for me
Have a goodun
Wurzel
back 
They can be very annoying, as they do tempt you by stopping regularly but often not long enough for you to make the shot. Worth the effort, though. 
