It ain't 'alf 'ot

The morning broke according to the forecast, warm and sunny, so I put on my child-molester shorts (think Don Estelle), hat on, roof down and Beach Boys on the stereo and drove off in the warmth.

The oil seed rape pollen swirled around but I didn't care - four days of sunny holidays ahead.

As it turned out, my carefully-laid plans didn't quite work out...... wherever I went, I failed to find what I was looking for, but found something else in compensation:

I walked around the tinder-dry Perry Wood, looking for early Bird's-Nest Orchids......
..... but found much else of interest including a small patch of Woodruff, which is unusual in these parts.
I paid another visit to Park Wood, to see if any Duke of Burgundies had appeared.......
.... but they hadn't, but a lay down on the grass brought me closer to another world, of Pill Millipedes......
..... and shield bugs.......
..... and a ladybird that might not be a ladybird.
Orange tip butterflies were everywhere.
I called in at Campbells garage to check if Small Blues had emerged, but although their food plant, Kidney Vetch, is starting to flower.....
... there were none to be seen, as a cooling breeze was coming in off the sea. Only one butterfly flew past - a worn Painted Lady.

So I returned home to spend some time in the garden, where a green spider was spinning a web (a Cucumber Green Spider?)........
...... a couple of Orange Tips, a Holly Blue, and what the..........?
Up in the trees, a small green butterfly fluttered........ a Green Hairstreak. This warm weather is really benefiting the early spring bugs.