Lea Meadow and Bunny Old Wood, Leicestershire, East Midlands 18/04/15

 

We had a great day out yesterday! First we went to Lea Meadow then Bunny Old Wood in Leicestershire in the East Midlands in the UK. They were small reserves so it didn't take long to walk about, the weather was fabulous with barely a cloud in the sky. Lea meadow is, a large field basically, owned by the Wildlife Trusts. It has a small stream running through it with an oasis of trees in the middle and surrounded by trees on the outskirts of the field. It will be good to go back in summer when the field has become a meadow of wild flowers with all the life that that supports. I am looking forward to seeing the butterflies and caterpillars feeding on these and hoping to get some really good macro shots. I have decided to go for the FRPS of the Royal Photographic Society with macro images of butterflies so am hoping to hone my skills  to do this. This picture is of some of the trees surrounding the field.

This was one of the trees in the field, on the outskirts of it. Its a tree in blossom with the sun catching the blossom on the periphery of the tree. It looked stunning. I cant wait to go back to this meadow in summer when the trees are in their full regalia!

This image is of a path through the woods of Bunny Old Wood. The nascent leaves of overwintering perennials emerging during which time the spring flowers of celandine are already in full bloom.

Another images of Bunny Old Wood pathways. There are rafts of bluebells here although the picture doesn't give them credit. The path will be barely visible when the plants are fully developed and the leaves are on the trees.

I don't know what this is. I've looked in my RSPB book of 'Butterflies and Moths' and am unable to find anything resembling it, the nearest being some form of skipper. The colours don't match what is in in the book or the rings at the bottom of the wings. It is by no means my best picture but a record shot of what I was able to take before it flew away. I also saw an orange tip at Lea Meadow and recently elsewhere in the past few weeks.

I have been to the Butterfly Conservation Society website (http://butterfly-conservation.org/) and identified it as a Speckled Wood.

I have identified this as a Comma. I've never seen one before so this was quite exciting (it doesn't take much!). I found it in Bunny Old Wood on the ground.

This was taken at the small stream that separates one half of Lea Meadow field with the other. It's shallow, very pleasant and pretty but I anticipate it getting prettier when the bare tree stems are filled with leaves and the plants beside the stream are taller.