'Black Adder Goes Forth'.

This was always my favourite of the Black Adder series, despite many people taking the mickey out of me due to the rather good looking Private 'Bob'. 

What brings me to such rambling you may ask!!

A gorgeous Spring day took me to a local woodland looking for some more Brimstones roosting. Although I saw several I wasn't lucky to see any once they had roosted. However, I did come across a very smart Black Adder!! This rare colour form of the Adder, also known as 'melanistic' are seen occasionally and due to their rarity are always good to see. I personally have seen a few over the years but haven't managed any decent shots of them. This one was in the middle of some bushes and it wasn't possible to get some clean shots of it. Fortunately, with my telephoto lens it was possible to get some reasonable close shots without having to disturb it.

Close-up of the Black Adder.

Melanistic Adder.

Melanistic Adder soaking up the heat.

With definite signs of Spring it was good to see plenty of Wood Anemone coming into flower covering the woodland floor. Bluebells will shortly be following!!

Wood Anemone in the leaf litter.

As well as the Brimstones there were several Peacock flying and many Comma. The hibernating butterfly species seem to have had a good Winter. As the afternoon went on the Comma butterflies sought out areas to bask and this included fallen trees where the heat remained the longest. One very smart Comma posed superbly on one of these, whilst another posed among the Wood Anemone.

Comma on a stump on the woodland floor.

Male Comma.