A Strange Day

It's been a strange day.  For starters, it finally stopped raining and I was able to go out with my camera.  Then, for some reason, I decided not to venture down backstreets but instead went to a pathway that, by my usual standards, is semi rural.  There's a lot of overgrowth on the pathway and in parts there are posh houses with big gardens and the overall effect is a lot of nature, at least compared with how much I usually see.  

As I was walking I spotted this butterfly on what I think is cow parsley and I managed to get close enough for this shot.  Then, as I was walking and contemplating that I'd just taken a nature shot the most bizarre thing happened.  I was walking past a high garden wall and heard a kerfuffle going on in one of the trees that overlooks the lane.  Then, all of a sudden, a squirrel jumped out of a tree, down the wall at high speed and nearly ran into me, closely followed by an irate low flying blackbird, who was shouting very loudly at the squirrel.  The squirrel did a sharp turn when he finally spotted me, closely followed by the still irate blackbird.  They continued down the lane for a bit and then disappeared into a nearby garden.  The whole thing lasted seconds and happened so quickly I couldn't get to my camera in time to take a shot.  The only reason I could think of for this bizarre sight was maybe the squirrel had got a bit too close to the blackbird's nest and he was letting the squirrel know he wasn't welcome.  I've never seen anything like it, never had a near collision with a squirrel/blackbird combo, and I've never Blipped a butterfly before.  What a strange day indeed.