IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Houghton Close, NOTTINGHAM, NG16 1AX

This footpath leads over a stream towards the rear of Hempshill Hall

Not the usual vehicle on this bus route! The driver told us it is a 50 year old replica of a 1910 bus, and it will be giving tours around the centre of Nottingham this summer.

Most of the thousands of commuters speeding daily along the A610 towards Nottingham will be unaware that a set of steep stone steps leads down from the carriageway to this small but pretty area of woodland and to footpaths, a stream (unnamed on the map), fields and a pond.

The drive was cut by the construction of the A610 Nuthall Bypass, but still functions as a public footpath. The width of the new road meant that a long flight of steps had to be built for the path.

This is a migratory butterfly which is unable to hibernate or survive the British winter. They arrive here from April onwards and in most years are commonest in the south, but every few years there is a very large influx, and then they may be seen throughout the British Isles in all habitats up to Shetland. This picture was taken in my back garden, which shows you do not have to go far to get interesting shots. A few buddleia bushes will attract many types of butterflies.

The Gatekeeper, or Hedge Brown, is common in all southern counties of England, and in lowland Wales, wherever wild grasses and shrubs grow together, but is absent from Scotland. This specimen is a male, distinguished by the dark scent band across the orange of the upperwing. It is sometimes confused with the much larger Meadow Brown which has less orange and only one white pupil in the eyespot on the upperwing.

One of our commonest native butterflies, found wherever there are flowers and nettles anywhere in the British Isles. There are usually two broods a year, the later one of which will hibernate over the winter.

Nothing unusual about this picture, you might think, but in fact it is taken facing SE while the sun was setting in the opposite direction.

A regular early summer migrant from Europe which often comes north in enormous swarms and multiplies rapidly. Named for the silvery white Y shaped marking on the upper forewings. Both day and night flying, and abundant in Britain in the autumn, but cannot overwinter here. The picture was taken at dusk and there were between 20 and 30 of these moths hovering at the buddleia flowers. They seldom settled and behaved like tiny humming birds sucking out the nectar. Flash had to be used to provide sufficient light and to freeze the action!