Five Rivers 19-10-2022
I’d taken a walk along the road parallel to the railway track the day before and I’d spotted a couple of Red Admirals. They’d played hard to get by swooping down along the road and then flying to the other side of the fence. Then I’d been called back to the house as the heating engineer was arriving to fix our boiler…
When I revisited without the imminent ‘you need to come home’ call there was only one Red Admiral and this one played even harder to get alighting right at the top of the vegetation which grew over the top of the tall fence. I approached it a couple of times, camera held up and as far ahead in front of me as possible and each time I got within range it would flick its wings and np over the fence for a few minutes before returning somewhere slightly further along and staring down witheringly at me. I managed a single record shot so that will have to suffice.
I kept walking to the end of the road, along the riverside path, over the wooden bridge and then down the river path on the way to the Glades at Five Rivers. Over the whole distance I’d not encountered a single butterfly…that is until I reached the ‘usual spot’. A line of trees runs the length of the path from the wooden bridge all the way to the Banks. Just before the Glades there is a sudden break where one or more of the trees has died, the remnants of which stands alone and naked of bark, denuded and shorn of limbs in the middle of a square of nettles and Hogweed. On the other side of the path there are little scallops of grass which the sunlight is focused on almost as if it has been refracted through a lens which the dark mud and stones of the path warm up really quickly. All of which makes this little spot a bit of a Red Admiral heaven – nectar sources, basking spots, a sheltered battleground with plenty of room for spiralling territorial disputes to be settled in, plenty of food source for the next generation and to cap it all mature trees with plenty of nooks and crannies to serve as hibernating spots.
As I approached I was greeted by a fast moving Admiral coming towards me. It was almost upon me, flying at head height when it veered off to my left and flew across the tops of the Nettles. As it did so a second went up and they both went at each other, spiralling upwards and making good use of the previously mentioned airspace. I stood back and watched and waited. Eventually they broke apart and one drifted down like a fallen leaf and landed on some low laying Nettles in the grassy scallop whilst the other did a few passes of the Nettle bed before taking up residence a few steps into the mess of stinging leaves. I managed to get some shots of both and then I left them in peace to recharge their batteries, lick their wounds before they inevitably started on each other again.
I carried on and had a quick look around the Glades but came up blank at all the usual places of interest so I decided that I’d wander slowly back towards the Admirals to see if they would deign to pose some more. As I was cutting across the last Glade I spotted an Admiral down on the vegetation which had been of interest to the Brimstone a trip or so previously. It had its wings open three quarters and so I waited to see if it was in the process of settling down to bask or getting to ready to take to the air. Unfortunately it was the later and it was up and off. As it climbed upwards nearly vertical in a clear space between two trees it was intercepted by a roving Tit flock which was moving from one spinney to another. It managed to evade several hungry beaks but needed a moment to compose itself and so I watched it return to ground level. I gave it a minute or so to calm down before I stalked in close enough to train my lens on it. At first I’d guessed that it was one of the pair I’d witnessed earlier but now I was close enough in there were obvious difference in the wear and tear, the nicks and chips so it became my fourth Admiral of the day. With a few record shots I backed up, moving on my knees until I was several metres away and my silhouette was masked by a tree. The knees of my jeans were soaked from the damp ground but luckily the butterfly was still in the same place.
Back at the Usual Spot which I’d started to think of as ‘Admiral Arena’ there as an Admiral in prime spot in the middle of the Nettle bed. As leant over I discovered that either my shirt wasn’t thick enough or the nettle stings were extraordinarily powerful as I felt the familiar pins and needles and sharp jabs of the stings. I did my best to ignore them and focus on the butterfly which I could only just get in shot by stretching my arms out fully and clicking away as I didn’t want to trample the nettles. I looked back at the photos and couldn’t see any chunks missing from the hind wings which meant that this was Admiral number 5 of the afternoon. After this I strolled on back pleased to have had my annual Admiral encounter.
Autumnal outing
And Admiral encounter
Out at Five Rivers
Have a goodun
Wurzel
I don't know about the Mouses' last supper but I think that some mammals can feed on Fly Agaric without harm (I'm trawling to the depths of my Mycology course now 
). Hopefully the Brimstones will be able to settle down soon and maintain some of their reserves for spring 
I swear this is the real me - I suppose it was only a matter of time until I was 'faked' 
