SEARCHING FOR SWALLOWTAILS

My sister and I got up early to head for Strumpshaw Fen last week, hoping to see swallowtail butterflies. The weather was forecast mostly sunny although slightly breezy. We arrrived at about a quarter to ten and started to wander around the reserve. We saw a number of birds including a black swan and a marsh harrier, and despite the breeze a number of butterflies could be seen; peacock, red admiral and brimstone.  As we had our lunch on  a seat on the boardwalk where the butterflies are known to emerge,   we caught our first glimpse of a swallowtail butterfly as it flew past us and around the corner of some vegetation. 

After waiting around hopefully, no more sightings were made and we continued on the trail across the railway line towards the 'doctor's house' where  these butterflies  are known to be attracted to the garden. Again we had a glimpse of a swallowtail flying off behind some bushes. A couple of photographers assured as that it had been feeding recently on the flowers nearby. Again we waited but none materialised. We returned to the reserve's reception area where they had been spotted the previous day, a hot bank holiday, but drew a blank. 

I thought it would be worth retracing our steps to where we had seen them before, particularly the board walk area, and there we met a few people who were pleased to tell us that they had just taken some lovely photos of three butterflies feeding on the yellow flag irises!  As they had lifted from the flowers, apparently the swallowtails had been caught by the breeze and flown out of sight.

We waited but to no avail. It wasn't our day. But the brief glimpses we had had, made me determined to try again next year. I think it was fairly early in the season, and with the breeze, it was always going to be difficult, though evidently some people had had more success than we had!

Brimstone

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