Green-veined white

Another very busy day. I spent the morning surveying an area of arable land in south-west Cambridgeshire. A group of Gamlingay residents have formed a company to install a single 33m diameter wind turbine just outside the village to offset the village carbon footprint. Part of the profit will be used to provide a regular income to the village to be spent on local charities. I'm providing them with an independent ecological assessment of their proposal.

I was offered lunch by one of the directors of the company, who invited two other members of the group. It was so stimulating to hear about all the exciting developments going on in the village - they're currently converting their community centre into an 'Eco-hub' that will be heated using ground-source heat pumps under the adjacent football pitch, with all the electricity being supplied by solar photo-voltaic panels. Really exciting stuff - probably helped by the fact that a large number of Gamlingay residents work either for RSPB (whose headquarters are close-by) and so are already environmentally aware.

I arrived home mid-afternoon, and wandered round the garden to see if there was anything to blip. I'd nearly given up when theis green-veined white obligingly landed on some purple toadflax. This is a very common species, but one which I don't think I've blipped before. The green veins on the underwing are made up of a mix of black and yellow scales, but this specimen either seems to have lost most of the yellow scales, or never had them in the first place. I have to admit I just love their amazingly patterened eyes.

I took the dogs out in the early evening, intending to just do a short walk around our local stretch of river. However, when I arrived there was obviously a rowing regatta in full swing, and the place was full of cars and people. We turned around and headed a bit further out to our local country park. I decided to take them on a quiet route that I hadn't walked since the spring, but I'd forgotten quite how far it was! So it was late home, then tea to be cooked and by that time I was just too shattered to blip!!

After a relatively early night I feel much better this morning, though I'm working again later today, so this probably won't last!!