May brings fine days to the riverside

Sunday 1st May started with very light wispy cloud then full sun - fine weather at last and no cold wind.

Good numbers of Orange Tip butterflies, males and females were ranging over the wild field visiting clump after clump of Cuckooflower, doing very well now. The first Cuckooflowers were seen on the field in February but are now prolific, not just in the field but in places all along the river banks, attracting Orange Tip butterflies everywhere, far more than last year. This year most butterflies have been scarce so far due to the cold, wet and windy weather. A single, rather battered Comma butterfly was seen on nettles, Blackcaps were singing in the Blackthorn, a great-spotted woodpecker was seen flying across and heard calling. Wrens, robins, song thrush were busy foraging along the base of the hedgerows.

Comma butterfly warming up on nettles on the river bank

DAWN CHORUS!

At 5am on the MayDay (2nd) bank holiday, it was just becoming lighter, although uniformly overcast. The night had been warmer than of late, with no wind and a superb dawn chorus was heard echoing along the river.

Blackbirds dominated the singing at times but song thrushes, blackcaps, robins, wrens, dunnocks chiffchaffs and other warblers were all singing together in a wave of sound, the only sound audible in the landscape with no background noise - the dawn belonged to the birds.

The day itself became breezy, with rain but a hobby was seen flying fast over the river course under the  cloud.

A week later on Monday 7th May, after a few days of warm weather, the river water was heating up - and the first Damselfly of the year was seen flying low over the nettles. It was a female Beautiful Demoiselle Damselfly, freshly emerged. It stopped and perched several times in order to dry out its wings and body in order to be able to fly any distance from the water where it had emerged.

Another first for the riverside were two Speckled Wood butterflies perched on brambles close to the damselfly. More Orange Tip butterflies were investigating the Cuckooflowers and several Holly Blue butterflies were seen flying strongly along with a bright male Brimstone, high and low. A male song thrush was singing in its usually thicket whilst another foraged below. Chiffchaffs, goldfinches and chaffinches were all singing nearby.

The first Speckled Wood butterfly of the summer on fresh bramble leaves on the river bank