Speckled Wood

Went to my Body Pump class and luckily did not feel so dizzy as I was in Pilates yesterday. I cut down the weights slightly just in case.

We had an early lunch and then went for a walk along the Thames towards Henley. It was nice to wander along the path but it soon left the edge of the river and so the vista was more hedges and fields than the river frontage. It was still a good walk –there were huge teasels in flower and lots of Himalayan balsam. I don’t remember seeing so much before. We walked as far as Shiplake College and then turned back. The sun came out more brightly and we were treated to several dragonflies buzzing up and down the path and over our heads on the way back. Really nice to get out.

This speckled wood butterfly posed nicely on a leaf at the edge of the path. The light just above the right antennae was from one of the new hire bikes that they’ve introduced in Reading. We saw several of them in use up and down the path – not sure they are designed for much off road use but it was good to see people using them.

On the way back we also saw a flight of vintage planes, including a triplane with the German colours. We wondered if they’d been doing a commemorative flyover at an airshow nearby.