In fine fettle

Comma butterflies are flourishing in fine weather, says Val

- Val Bourme

BY the time you read this we may be basking in warm sunshine, and all I can say is that I do hope this is the case because we have had a grey, cool, sunless summer following that hot and sunny June. It has been very windy at Spring Cottage, so the bees and butterflies hunkered down. However, when the sun did break through for an hour or two, clouds of butterflies, lots of hummingbird hawkmoths, hoverflies and bees began to forage. It concentrated them into a short time zone and lightened the gloom.

It reminded me of a visit to Upper Boddington Reservoir in Northamptonshire some 40 years ago. It was the third week of April and I’d gone to see if I could see any recently arrived migrant birds, because this was the week when swallows, swifts and martins often appeared in south Northamptonshire. The reservoir, which was in a hollow, was shrouded in mist and it formed a thick white layer about 10ft (3m) above the water. My heart sank, because it was quite a long walk from home, and I thought I’d see nothing at all.