Swallowtail at Strumpshaw

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 As soon as I heard my  husband had a work appointment at Bungay I checked  my diary was free then commissioned a lift  with him as Strumpshaw Fen was only 20 miles away and there were swallowtails flying at the moment. The weather looked a little doubtful with a cool breeze and quite a bit of cloud forecast interspersed with a few sunny spells but I hoped for the best.

After the survey appointment followed by refreshments in a nearby garden centre we parked up and I crossed over the railway line to the entrance of the reserve.  Immediately I saw several people with cameras lined up pointing at the small flower bed just in front of the reception area...  a swallowtail  butterfly on the flowers!  However just as I was getting my camera out, it flew off, did a few circles in the air before perching high up on a cherry tree where it decided to remain for the time being, 

At that time it was cloudy so I went over to the reception to say that I was an RSPB member and as I did so someone pointed out that there was a kingfisher perching nicely just in front of the viewing screen! 

After a while I went back to see if the swallowtail had returned to the flowers which it hadnt, however, I could a few blue breaks in the clouds so hung around for a bit to see if the sun would come out and hopefully the elusive butterfly would decided  to come down and nectar once again. Sure enough thats exactly what happened, it seemed a bit surreal being the only one who had noticed and was photographing this beautiful creature.  However it wasnt long before I was spotted and several others came to join me and we were able to spend a few minutes watching it before it once again flew off.

So without too much effort or walking I managed to see and get quite close to up to two of our most iconic species of wildlife. - a mission accomplished!




















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