Painted Lady

I'm always excited to see one of these.  My first of the year were at Coughton Court today.

I'd been cancelled on (for the second time) by a possible date  and I decided that I would go out for a day anyway as the weather was gorgeous.

 I had a much better time than if I had been making stilted conversation and being frustrated about not being able to take photos of the wonderful butterflies.

I hadn't realised that the walled garden didn't open until midday. I arrived at 10.30 and decided to sit by the lake in the little pavilion. Imagine  my surprise to see a flash of blue - twice.  No photos. He didn't return. But I did ask a couple of visitors and a gardener if they had a resident kingfisher.  The gardener said yes (but in such a way that suggested they wanted to keep it secret). The ladies I'd spoken to earlier found me later and told me that they had seen a kingfisher themselves, after our conversation, on the stream by the little bridge.

I saw ten different varieties of butterfly and couldn't believe how beautiful the gardens were.

If you get the chance to visit Coughton Court, in Warwickshire, near to Alcester, please don't miss it.

Extra photos - a more usual view of the Painted Lady and a Comma showing the punctuation mark on its underside.