Three Species of Butterfly Grace my Buddliea

On the second day of more frequent butterfly visitation, there are now three varieties flocking to the rapidly fading Buddliea in the back garden – there is a fourth, but it is the Cabbage White and it it is very elusive; rarely stopping anywhere for more than a nanosecond, and fortunately definitely less attractive than the three more colourful – the Painted Lady, Tortoiseshell and Red Admiral, that were present this morning around breakfast time.

Nothing more to say than the wind meant I had to work harder and waste more shots! But they were very welcome visitors, I did make another discovery, the two plums which I had since forgotten, were no more, one had dropped and both had largely been consumed, which was sad, I should have picked them both when I first spotted them!

My Garden Insect Pollinators

Today was the day when those taking O-Level GCSEs get their results, and I was hoping to hear how my twin grandchildren had fared, and fortunately I did not have to wait too long and was both relieved and thrilled to learn just how well both had performed – I knew it was well-deserved as they had both worked extremely hard and now they can take things to the next stage with confidence and I wish them well. Catherine their mother should feel justly proud of their achievements considering she is also a hard-working teacher herself.

It was very hot and humid today and so when lunchtime came and I spotted a couple of Tortoiseshell butterflies at long last visiting my Buddliea, I knew I just had to grab the camera and take some shots since up till yesterday I had seen only a lone Cabbage White and the flowers are nearly all over now. It was a welcome sight, and they do make excellent images for birthday cards.

At one stage when looking to see whether any butterflies had gone to the very low branches resting on the grass, I spotted some colour close to the fence and thought at first it was a kiddy's toy, but on closer examination I was amazed – when I moved here, my two daughters had bought me a house-welcoming present of a plum tree, and despite being only a year in the ground it had produced two very healthy looking plums one with a large glob of sap coming from its skin. I who can kill the healthiest and sturdiest of plants had been given fruit on my plum tree in the first year! I shall check later to see whether they are actually ripe enough to eat, I immediately texted both daughters with the good news and a quick photo as evidence. One plum for two excellent results for my granddaughters.

I then grabbed a few more shots; enough for a small gallery and got back to the Sauna that is my office.

Late but Welcome Garden Visitors

Writing over four gigabytes worth of files to DVD takes time, so I got the chance to grab a camera and go into the garden and capture some of the more than welcome visitors to my budliea. Till today, I had seen no more than a single peacock and a cabbage white and those only in the last few days. The warm wind that has blown today was a godsend. Bees and butterflies were at last in my garden.

I had to write three DVDs, so that gave me two photo breaks, I made the most of the opportunity and used the 300mm with the 1.4 converter, then changed to the 100mm macro, and for a change I even managed to get some sunshine some of the time, and I now had a tortoiseshell join the peacock and cabbage white. The three shots of the bee in the gallery was a bee simply struggling to climb through the leaves, perhaps he was drunk from all the nectar!

I have been running one of my cameras in a box at a Shell Service Station which has been undertaking a three-week refurbishment of its retail shop, taking a series of time lapse images, hence the mammoth writing of DVDs.