Gambling Man

 I was having quite a productive morning doing a few bits and bobs in preparation for my upcoming holiday to Lesvos. Once I'd got my clothes ready for packing and had popped down to the Post Office and bought some euros I decided that it was time to do a bit of nature watching. It was now that my good morning hit a Stagecoach shaped buffer which stopped me in my tracks. Regular users of the X4 "service" know the X stands for excrement, we've become resigned to the constant lateness, in fact there seems to be more chance of me seeing a Labrador Duck swimming up the Grand Union Canal than there is of Stagecoach running a punctual bus service! Today however lateness was not the problem it was more that the bus didn't show up at all. Rather than waste another hour optimistically waiting for the next bus I opted to walk down to Weldon instead - thank you Stagecoach!

Female Orange-tip fending off male and Dingy Skipper

Having lost on the Stagecoach lottery I now played a game of shower roulette as I wandered around Weldon under skies that either threatened rain or cleared enough to let the sun shine through. I began at the open area close to the A43 pond during one of the longer sunny spells. It was quite breezy but a few butterflies were braving the gusts and these included my first Dingy Skipper of the year. It was during my Covid exercise walks that I first found this species here in 2020 but had not looked for them since, Priors Hall tends to be my go to site for these butterflies. Other species joining the skipper on the wing included Orange-tip and Peacock. A teneral damselfly was also seen, it was almost certainly a Large Red but I couldn't confirm this. After a quick look at the pond I moved on towards the Woodland Park.

Shield bug  and Buzzard

My walk along the stream produced a sighting of a Large Red Damselfly while around the pond I heard both Reed Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat. Next I had a stroll around the pocket park next to the church, by now the sun had disappeared so my chances of seeing insects dwindled accordingly. A Raven provided some interest and was the last thing of note before I decided to return home. Having avoided a soaking I opted to chance the X4 once again and to my delight the bus actually arrived - late of course but still a distinct improvement on its previous performance.