Butterflies and Too Much Cheese

Had a great evening last night.  I met Clare from work and we walked around the Blythe Valley Nature Reserve.  It's lovely.

Housed on a business park, with the River Blythe running through the middle it has become home to otters, sky larks and all manner of butterflies and birds. We ambled around the meadows whilst the motorway next to us ground to a stand still. 

The people in charge of it have done a great job, they have even built a hide overlooking the water where you can watch the birds feeding.  My only criticism is that they have been a little over zealous with the "Danger Deep Water" signs and the gravel path they have laid means any wildlife can hear you coming from some distance away.

Although we didn't see any otters we did see lots of butterflies.  I'm becoming quite fond of butterflies lately and yesterday we saw the following

Ringlet - loads

Comma - several

Speckled Wood - many

Holly Blue - several

Red Admiral - one

Marbled White - one

Meadow Brown - loads

Small Tortoiseshell - one

Green Veined White - several



Having wandered around for a couple of hours and once the traffic had died down we headed back.  We stopped off at Bella Italia for a drink and a bite to eat.  I went for a pizza with extra olives and chillis.  When the pizza arrived the chillis were missing.  I decided not to say anything but made sure that when the bill came I hadn't been charged for the extra topping I did not receive.  Turns out that rather than chillis the waitress had thought I'd said cheese.  So that's what I ended up with pizza with olives and extra cheese!  I couldn't complain as when I ordered she repeated it back to me.  I think with her East European accent and my Brummie accent it was understandable that we got our wires crossed.

All in all a pleasant a relaxing evening.