Tattered and torn...

...but not defeated!

While I was mowing the lawn this afternoon this red admiral flew high over the garden before looping around and coming in to land on the soft furry leaves of the Jerusalem sage. It sat there for quite some time in the warm October sun, long enough for me to go indoors and fetch the camera, and then take several captures.

It looks as though it's had a close encounter with a bird as at least one beak-shaped segment seems to be missing from its hind wing. But hopefully it'll survive long enough to hibernate, probably in some of the dense ivy around our garden, or perhaps in a shed or outhouse.

Most of the day was spent supporting the two older offspring. Chris went back to Sheffield today with a large bag of aquatic samples to sort and identify, which will probably take him about three weeks. Before he left I had to be both seamstress and hairdresser!

Then I took Alex into town to get his new phone - the last and very belated part of his 18th birthday present! As we'd decided to go for a contract, the whole process was fairly time consuming. Especially as we had a trainee member of staff who had to keep checking with her boss. But she was a lovely young woman and we had a lot of giggles. At the end she thanked us for being such lovely and patient customers, which was really nice!

When we got back there was just time for lunch before I took Alex to Orton Pit to do his first afternoon of work experience. He spent the afternoon raking reeds, and ended up with a large blister on his hand but I'm sure they'll soon toughen up. However, he enjoyed the work and the beautiful weather.

And in the couple of spare hours I mowed the lawn, as I felt I needed some physical activity before starting the next report. Usually the lawn's continuously damp in the autumn because our garden's quite shaded, but today the grass was perfectly dry. I rough mowed the orchard to make it neater for the spring flowers and squelched through fallen apples, the air redolent with the smell of cheap scrumpy cider. Very autumnal!