Flighty

Today was a bit of a curate's egg. I had an appointment this morning for a breast scan, but when I turned up at the mobile scanning unit the staff were all standing about looking annoyed, because the scanner had broken down, and they were waiting for an engineer to come and fix it. This was a little irritating, but more so for them than for me; and as I was half way to Stratford by then anyway, I simply carried on and went to see what I could find at the Butterfly Farm.

On arrival I checked whether there were an school parties due, and was told that 90 primary school children were due at any moment - so I shot round the site at top speed, and left again just as the screaming started. To be totally fair, the Blue Morphos and Owls were being very flighty and a little combative this morning, and even I rocked back on my heels a few times as something the size of my hand flew past my face. I was using a long zoom today, which has up and down sides: it's not as sharp as my macro, but it's easier to get shots without disturbing the butterflies - this Constantine's Swallowtail was very skittish indeed, and I doubt I'd have got near it with the macro.

Back at home I had to wash the MX-5 (bad), as a large bird with a severe gastric upset had eliminated all over it, to the point where it was almost camouflaged. The car now looks lovely (good), except for the fact that while vaccing out the interior I stupidly walked too close to the open passenger door, caught the edge of it with the buckle on the side of my left wellington boot, and removed a chip of paint (very bad). I'm now waiting for a call from the mobile chip removal person.

Happy music of the day: Elbow and John Grant (very good indeed).