The Green June Meet

 OUR AIM IS TO PROTECT OUR NATURAL ENVIRONMENT AND THE HABITAT IT PROVIDES FOR WILDLIFE ALONG THE RIVERSIDE

Our Meet on Sunday 27th June 2021 took place before the rain came on an overcast day. The riverside walk and surroundings had escaped much littering - the weather again being unsuitable for such pastimes apart from a refuge under an oak providing shelter from the rain on the cycle path.

With green vegetation growing quickly in the warming humid drizzle and occasional bursts of hot sunlight, the countryside was fast transforming into a 'tropical rainforest' with invertebrate life abundant. Birds were making up for lost time, many busy with second broods with no shortage of insect food for their young.

Not all insects benefit from drizzle however, especially butterflies. The Holly Blue butterfly appeared late this year but the Hollies and Ivies it uses, being evergreen, provide good shelter from rain. In spring, Bramble blossom provides nectar for it to feed on and patches of the earliest blossom were few and far between, in sunny locations.

The female Holly Blue has a distinctive wide black border  on

the forewings and all Holly Blues have small dark dots on the 

'silvery' underside without any orange colouring.

As  bright bonus on such a a grey day, a kingfisher was seen making a fast flypast under the footbridge, low over the river.

see date for next meet.