Whilst having breakfast on
Monday morning I was lucky enough to see a pair of Blackcaps pecking around in
a blackthorn tree opposite us. After
getting the washing done and hung out to dry Buddy and I went butterflying. I was rewarded with a freshly emerged
Speckled Wood as soon as we set off.
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Speckled Wood butterfly just next to the boat
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A little further along the
towpath a male Orange Tip obliged by resting for a while. Not a common sight in their first week of
life as they tend to fly continuously looking for a mate. I know I go on about it but the sight of these butterflies means that spring is here as far as Karen and I are concerned.
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Male Orange Tip at rest
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The underside which
camouflages well with Jack By The Hedge (the larval foodplant) once it’s in
flower.
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I forgot to mention that
on Sunday, Karen and I met a couple out for a walk and he knew Buddy but I didn’t
recognise him. The trouble was he was
out of context - he was the Enforcement Officer for the patch on the Grand
Union that we continuously cruise and I should have really recognised him
straight away. It struck us as odd that he spends his working days walking the towpaths
and then does it again with his wife at the weekends, a sort of busman's holiday.
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There were three or four
Orange Tips flying along this section of the towpath where we met Gary, the EO, and his wife
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During the afternoon I was
reading Aileen’s first blog entry since she and Mike set out from their winter
mooring in Auxerre in France. She knows
I like posting upside down pictures so she posted one that was streets better than I've ever taken, just to make me jealous of course.
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Thanks Aileen!
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Later on a boat pulled up
with a family on board and we had our first neighbours for months (other than
when we were in Warwick where you would expect it). They were obviously on holiday and even had a
BBQ going within five minutes of mooring up.
Tuesday will be a cruise
day as I will need to fill up with water.
I wonder if I’ll be lucky enough to get our mooring spot back when I
return three hours later?
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