 |
Male Brimstone at Wilmcote
|
We thought we might see
some people on the towpath on Saturday as it was the weekend and sure enough, when I
opened the back doors at 8.30 a large group of walkers had already gathered by
the aqueduct.
 |
Walkers getting ready to
walk to Stratford
|
As it was forecast to be
such a nice day we packed a picnic and cycled the 5 ½ miles into
Stratford. It wasn’t long before we saw
our first butterfly of the year, a male Brimstone – see picture at the
top. Suddenly it seemed they were
everywhere and we saw at least 15 individuals during the day. They were all males, which are distinguished
by their bright yellow colour; females are much paler, almost lemon coloured. Unlike most butterflies Brimstones never open
their wings at rest. The Brimstones seen
at this time of year have overwintered as adults, usually in trees hidden in
ivy leaves. The wing shape is noticeably
leaf shaped too to aid their camouflage.
When we reached Wilmcote
we caught up with the large group of hikers I had seen when we got up in the morning.
A cyclist was telling them that the towpath had collapsed half way down
the 11 lock flight and there was a diversion through a field. He said it was extremely muddy and best
avoided. The group leader had a change
of plan and they set off to walk into the village to visit Mary Arden’s house
(and probably one of the pubs) instead.
We carried on regardless.
 |
Karen waiting for me and
Buddy to catch up at one of the Wilmcote locks
|
We soon hit the diversion
and cycled along the footpath at the edge of the field. It wasn’t that muddy so we weren’t sure why
the cyclist was putting the hikers off.
After five miles we hit
the start of Stratford and saw our first Small Tortoiseshell of the year
followed almost immediately by a Peacock.
 |
Peacock taken by Karen last
year – the one we saw today didn’t stay still long enough for us to get a
shot
|
 |
Small Tortoiseshell by the canal in
Stratford
|
We chained our bikes up at
the end of the canal at Bancroft basin and walked up to the market. During the winter you can moor for 14 days in
the basin but from April to October it is 48 hour only. We had hoped to get here a lot earlier this
year so we could stay for two weeks but the lock closures have prevented
us. As it is we won’t be arriving until
April so we will only be able to stay for two days. There is a lock at Bancroft basin that leads
onto the River Avon so we will probably head onto the river for a while after
the two days and then return to the basin for another couple of days.
 |
Tourists everywhere at
Bancroft basin (me being a tourist by taking pictures)
|
We had our picnic on the
banks of the river in the unseasonably warm sunshine. Again it was packed with tourists – I seem to
remember that Stratford receives the largest number of tourists outside London. Karen remarked how ironic it is
that we don’t like being amongst people but we chose to come into Stratford to
have a picnic; however, there is a sense of being alone even in a crowd.
 |
Our view across the river
into the RSC theatre whilst having our picnic
|
On our way back home to
the boat we saw a Comma butterfly. This
made four different species on the first day of seeing any butterflies this
year. In 2015 we saw our first
butterflies of the year in Stratford too but it was over a fortnight earlier –
we saw Small Tortoiseshells and Brimstones on March 6th that year.
 |
| Comma at Edstone by the boat |
No comments:
Post a Comment