Gatekeeper

This morning I had an idea to go to Brockholes, but very early as it's 45 minutes away and gets really busy with children once the visitor centre opens at 10am. But as I dropped off back to sleep after my husband went to work at around 7am, that idea was quickly shelved. 
Instead I went to Woolston Eyes Nature Reserve which is about 20 minutes away. I've not been here for nearly a year - don't really know why, but it normally has plenty to offer. 
The meadows were teeming with insects, dragonflies and a few butterflies, but they were not being very cooperative as far as keeping still. I headed to the bird hides and spent a good hour watching the goings on of various birds - godwits, ducks, swans, geese, moorhens and coots, grebes - little and great crested, lapwings, shelducks, gulls etc, but nothing much took my fancy as far as a blip was concerned. 
On my way back to the car, I watched a couple of orange butterflies flitting about praying that they would land. I was quite patient - not like me at all - and finally one of them obliged and landed for a few seconds , which was long enough for me to get my blip. This is the first gatekeeper I have seen this year, so I guess it must be their time to emerge. 
My extra is a pair of shelducks(one of them is headless I'm afraid) with their brood of young which I quite liked.