Flying things

No blog yesterday, as Malcolm and I had to go to Manchester airport to collect Malcolm's mum and her friend, who finally flew in from their holiday in (of all places) Iceland!
It turned out to be an eventful morning, as we got to Manchester and found the 'Aircraft-observation area' near the airport and parked up to wait for Pat's flight to come in. We had been there about half an hour and had eaten our lunch, when a Police car pulled up alongside and two uniformed officers informed us we should not be there (despite the park being included on the map), and if we wanted to watch the planes coming in, we would have to go to the new plane-spotting area the other side of the airport......and pay £2 for the privilege!!!! Needless to say, we were not about to pay for something that we could get for free, so we drove onto a housing estate on the outskirts of Withenshaw and sat directly under the flightpath of the incoming planes. There we waited for Pat's plane.....until , there it was!

All is quiet and calm today, by comparison. A glorious day, so we had a long walk around Shipley Hill to make the most of the Blossom. the Bluebells are just starting to show some colour, so I will be including those in days to come, but for today, we were pleased to see this charming little flier on a cherry flower, A 7-Spot Ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata).

A little further on, and another little aviator was found, feeding on the nectar of the cherry blossom, this time a Peacock Butterfly (Inachis io).

Looking beautiful against the bright, blue sky and with the sun shining on the blossom, all was tranquility after the rush of yesterday. Keep calm and carry on!