[A small project to get me to post again, and deal with backlog of photos I have.]

The central flower bed in our garden is a riot of colour. This cosmos flower and its friends are major contributors.

I'm finding it increasingly difficult to post given how long it's been since I last posted publicly. I miss posting every day. It also doesn't help that we're on holiday in rural Norfolk where the internet speeds are generally terrible no matter what method you use, so even uploading one photo is a tooth-grindingly tedious affair. And since I'm on holiday, the weather is good, and I brought my dSLR and favourite lenses, I'm taking a looooot of photos. Therefore, I'm going to cheat and post the same photo I posted to a community, because it took so flippin' long to get it on Flickr.


The warm weather has seen the overwintering imagos emerge from their hiding places. Keiki and Humuhumu found this peacock (butterfly) on the lawn, soaking up the sun and sipping from the daisies. We also found a tatty comma and a bright brimstone. There are a great many freshly hatched cabbage whites, orange tips and holly blues battling feistily over the burdock flowers.

I was pleased to hear the distinctive call of a cuckoo, which was a comfort given that their numbers have been declining for many years, though we haven't managed to spot it yet.

Keiki found a ladybird in the garden, and it stayed to play with him for twenty minutes or so, crawling up and down his arm and occasionally flying down to his foot.

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Brimstone butterfly in flight after drinking from crocosmia flowers.

I had meant to post something else today, but I fell asleep with Keiki when he went to bed at 8 PM. I only woke up because I heard the door go when the bloke went outside to have a look at Mars, which is very visible next to the Moon right now. Don't forget to see it paired with tomorrow night's blood Moon if you're into that sort of thing!

This is a story about a couple of cabbage white butterflies.


Cabbage White 1: Incoming! Hey!
Cabbage White 2: Mmmm, delicious oregano flower.


Cabbage White 1: Hey! Yeah, you! Share!
Cabbage White 2: I’m ignoring you now.


Cabbage White 1: I said SHARE!
Cabbage White 2: Still ignoring you.


Cabbage White 1: *flounced*
Cabbage White 2: HA. Showed you. Mmmm, delicious oregano flower.

It is ridiculous, by the way, how much the butterflies fight over the oregano flowers. We let the plant take over the herb patch every summer because it is so popular with all types of butterflies, and some day-flying moths. There are typically 15-20 feeding on it all day, every day. There are more than enough flowers for all of them.

Keiki and Humuhumu made a new friend at the weekend. Also, they burst a balloon in the paddling pool.


Keiki peers at the speckled bush cricket sitting in the bloke's palm. His swimming goggles are round his neck and he's smiling.

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I was sitting in the garden with Keiki and he asked me to lift up the stump we use as a footstool to see if there were any woodlice under it. So I did. And look what we found!


Three Smooth Newts.

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[Owl butterfly (Caligo eurylochus) feeding on a banana.]

[White tropical butterfly perched on a fake (!) white orchid.]

[Malachite butterfly perched on a leaf at the Schmetterlinghaus, Vienna.]