Blue Sky and a New Tick

This morning, with the sun shining and the breeze blowing, we decided to do 'the Donkey Walk'. As usual, it was a good decision.

It's difficult to imagine as we enjoy these surroundings, that only 100 years ago, this was the site of the West Hallam Colliery. Looking down the slope to the left, there would have been a reservoir on the site, fed by the Mapperley Brook which is still down there somewhere.

Malcolm was keen to test out the capabilities of the camera on his new phone and as he was thus engaged, my attention was caught by a rather drab little butterfly nearby.

It was a little tricky getting a good shot of it as the breeze was interfering with the focus, but it seemed like something I hadn't seen before and after a bit of a search, it turned out to be a Burnet Companion (Euclidia glyphica). So that was a nice new 'tick' for my life list.
On the abundant flowers of the Cow Parsley plants, many insects are busy collecting nectar and among them, Ladybirds can be seen preying on the unwary. This one is a Harlequin Ladybird - the well-known Asian interloper.

One last picture for today and another from along the 'Donkey Walk' where White Dead-nettles are in full flower right now.

No doubt we will be back to do this walk again, very soon.