Small tortoiseshell

I was out in the garden this morning, stalking squirrels with the 70-300 lens, and being thoroughly impeded by the dogs.

Arthur: "Hey Mum - is that a squirrel over there? Oh no - it isn't."
Me: "Arthur, go away"
Arthur: "Sorry - I just thought you might want to stop doing that thing and give me a treat instead."
Me: "Arthur, go away."
Arthur: "Oh OK then.... Are you sure about the treat?"
Me: "Arthur - GO AWAY."
Arthur: "I'm going now."

Roley: "Mum - there you are!! I've been looking for you!"
Me: "Roley, go away."
Roley: "But I came to keep you company!"
Me: "Roley, GO AWAY!"
Roley: "Are you cross? Why are you cross? Oh look - is that a sq...? Oh no - it's gone now."
Me: "Roley - GO AWAY!!!"
Roley: I'll just lie here quietly, shall I, till you're feeling happier? I can help you keep an eye out for squirrels. That would be helpful, wouldn't it?"

I was just about to poke myself in the eye with the camera as a counter-irritant when I realised that the little hebe that was planted by our predecessor, and which manages to keep going despite being almost swamped by a rogue honeysuckle, was teeming with butterflies, bees and hoverflies. When I went inside about 20 minutes later I'd taken 130 shots, the culling and editing of which took the rest of the day.

There were positives and negatives about this accidental learning experience: on the plus side I got a lot of shots of butterflies that wouldn't have been possible with a closer lens because I was far enough away not to disturb them, but the down side was that the zoom didn't handle the strong light and shade as well as a prime would have done, so editing was more of a challenge.

My main image today is a small tortoiseshell, and the extra is an extraordinarily ragged peacock butterfly - I don't think the poor thing can be long for this world, but it was still busy foraging the whole time I was taking my photographs. I thought the least I could do was immortalise it!

I enjoyed looking through the entries for this week's Wide Angle Wednesday challenge. As always there were different interpretations, but my winners all produced images which make use of the exaggerating properties of a wide angle lens to fill the frame with interest. In no particular order, my hearts this week go to:

Apothecary7 - I think this is a small knife, but the wide angle makes it look huge - and it's a really pleasing image.
Inverculain - great use of distortion, and a really nice composition.
osuzanna - the exaggerated perspective here is terrific, and there are good leading lines to pull you through the shot.
hobbs - the shot that has everything: distortion, exaggeration of perspective, foreground interest, leading lines... I'm sure I've forgotten something!
KangaZu - a brilliant demonstration of the way a wide angle lens plays with perspective - I had to look quite hard to work out what she had done here. Love it!

Honourable Mentions go to:
Chantler63 - great foreground interest from the lamp.
Connections - this is almost abstract, and very pleasing.
wall - another shot that plays beautifully with perspective. Wall also gets a mention for his starring role as Ken in KangaZu's shot.
hesscat - I like that huge view framing the group of people in the foreground.
Freyjad - great use of the tunnel both as foreground interest and as frame for the view.

... and finally, a special mention goes to WildMooseChase - because who doesn't love a fisheye portrait of a dog?

I might regret this if you all decide not to play, but I next week I would like shots that include People. Or one person, if that's easier - or a pet if everyone you know shrieks and runs when you get your camera out. So for example, a wide angle lens can take a portrait and  include the context of the person's surroundings; or you could get a fun shot using the distorting effect of being in close; or you could maybe do a street shot - I'm sure you'll have other ideas too. There's a tutorial here that might help. The tag will be widwed20.