Cheerful

You'd think from the light here that it was a nice day, but it wasn't. We had a lot of gloom, and a couple of fierce rain storms, but there was a brief period this afternoon when the sky lifted and the ambience improved, and I had a sudden urge to check Tilly's field for butterflies. I'd barely made it through the gate when I spotted a male Common Blue and this Large Skipper competing for a patch of Red Clover, which certainly justified the hundred metre walk from my own front door.

I'd have liked to get a decent photo of the Common Blue - not least because he toned better with the clover and the background - but he was having none of it: having just about held his own against the larger and feistier Skipper, he took one look at the approaching giantess and fled the scene. I've havered over this image for quite a while, because for me, even after reducing the contrast and saturation, the colour scheme puts it into the category known in this household as "nowhere the eye can rest comfortably". I actually prefer a couple of the shots I captured in the front garden of a Broad Centurion, but I posted one of those a few days ago, and this Large Skipper is the first I've seen this year, so - with apologies to anyone already suffering from a headache - the butterfly gets the nod tonight.

R: C1, D20.