Alittlebitoutoffocus

Alittlebitoutoffocus

Butterflies in the Garden

My camera has been gathering dust since our holidays. So I thought it was about time I put it to some use. The weather has been very warm of late and the flowers are blooming in the garden. Inevitably this has attracted a kaleidoscope of butterflies and, for the past week, I’ve been snapping away…

By far the most numerous have been the Green-veined Whites, but there have been quite a few Peacocks, Red Admirals, Meadow Browns, Gatekeepers and Commas. Surprisingly there have not been many Small Tortoiseshells at all. However, my best ‘find’ of the week was a Purple Hairstreak,which I’d never seen before. (See pics 5 and 5a – a female I believe) Result! 👍👍😊

11 responses

  1. blhphotoblog Avatar
    blhphotoblog

    That’s a great set Mike and (yes) a female Purple Hairstreak! Not a bad garden tick, saves craning your neck up at Oak trees in woodlands!
    Sadly Small Torts are quite thin on the ground these past couple of years or so, no one knows the whole reason, it may be the sum of many parts. However the weather has been spot on this year so hopefully they will breed well and they will be once more be a common garden visitor (only one in mine so far this year).

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    1. Alittlebitoutoffocus Avatar
      Alittlebitoutoffocus

      Thanks Brian. I realised that I didn’t need to go out on a walk to find them, when they were coming into my back garden! It was just a question of being patient and making sure the dog was elsewhere! The Purple Hairstreak was a bit of a surprise though! We had loads of Tortoiseshells near Harlech last year, so I’m surprised they’re not still in good numbers. Maybe it was the sea air!

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  2. Pepper Avatar
    Pepper

    A beautiful gallery of butterflies. 😊

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    1. Alittlebitoutoffocus Avatar
      Alittlebitoutoffocus

      Many thanks. I was just pleased they stayed still long enough for me to take the photos! 👍😊

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  3. Mélodie Avatar
    Mélodie

    Lovely photos

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    1. Alittlebitoutoffocus Avatar
      Alittlebitoutoffocus

      Thankyou Mélodie. 👍👍😊

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  4. Anita Avatar
    Anita

    Oh wow… what an amazing collection of gorgeous butterflies, Mike! Did you really find them all in your garden? That’s so impressive—they’re absolutely beautiful and so wonderfully photographed and presented.

    I noticed you’ve updated your blog layout, haven’t you? It looks great! I’m tearing my hair out trying to get my own blog page in order… I think I might just give up—it really shouldn’t be this complicated! May I ask what theme you’re using?

    They say the block editor is brilliant… I say it’s brilliantly confusing!!

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    1. Alittlebitoutoffocus Avatar
      Alittlebitoutoffocus

      Thanks Anita. Yes, they were all in our garden over 3 or 4 days (except perhaps one, which I took elsewhere, though I had seen one of them in the garden, but didn’t capture it, so I felt justified in including it! 👍😊)
      Sorry to hear that you’re struggling with the editor. It’s supposed to be easy, but I agree it’s not that intuitive. My new theme is Grammar One. I’m not totally happy with it but I had to change, as the old one is no longer supported. I’m supposed to have 9 posts on my home screen (based on the setting) but only 6 appear. The heading is over-simple now and I have to repeat all my post headings in the text to make it appear. It’s very frustrating I know!
      If you’re stuck on a particular thing, just let me know (I think my email address is still on my About page) and I’ll see what I can advise. Though each theme probably has it’s own foibles! Or you could try the happiness engineers, I’ve found them very helpful in the past.

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      1. Anita Avatar
        Anita

        Yes, the Happy Engineers are often helpful. Thanks Mike!

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  5. Jet Eliot Avatar
    Jet Eliot

    This was a lovely gallery of butterflies, Mike, and how wonderful to have them in your garden. The peacock is so elegant. I liked your new find, the purple hairstreak, for the dapper antennae. It was good to “see” you and your butterflies.

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    1. Alittlebitoutoffocus Avatar
      Alittlebitoutoffocus

      Thanks Jet. I did get rather excited myself at spotting a ‘new’ butterfly. I didn’t expect to see anything too interesting in the UK. 👍👍😊

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