Royalty

Monarch butterflies gathering together in great clusters to share body warmth and survive the coming winter.

This afternoon I had to go into Timaru for a meeting at the end of the school day.  Afterwards I thought I could use some thinking time so I stopped at the 'butterfly tree' to see if any Monarch butterflies were gathering yet.  

Disappointingly I didn't have my long lens with me, but I managed with 85mm.  

The sky makes it look like summer.  It lies.  We're well into autumn and the temp didn't rise above 12 deg C today.  Fortunately for me I'm quite comfortable at that temp so I sat and enjoyed the butterflies for a while.