Speckled Eyes

I JUST couldn't help myself - I had to get down on the floor with this little butterfly this afternoon. I was drawn like a magnet!

Brilliant day today! I hot footed it over the Cotswold hills to meet a long standing friend for lunch, who I initially met on a diving trip waaay back in 1995 and we've stayed in touch ever since. We seem to always meet here as it's a halfway house for both of us, in a pub renowned as a horse racing haunt, as it lies at the bottom of the gallops near a famous stables.

Galloped off then to take some harvest shots on the way home, trotted past my favourite shop which is a converted farm nestling in the folds of the hills then cantered home to download the chip.

Over the top of the computer I noticed my buzzard from yesterday had rocked up on a telegraph pole in full view so grabbed the camera, set up the tripod...plonked on the big lens ... he was still there.. ran back inside for the camera chip... LOL.. and he flew off. However a while later he came back! He had seen me, no doubt and I know he could hear the camera even at that distance as he flinched with the noise BUT this time he didn't seem too bothered. I was very still and at one point he even turned his back on me. Please as punch getting a few photographs of him I then saw this Speckled wood on the house wall. Well you know my addiction to my macro lens :))

I do find their eyes fascinating and if you look closely you can see tiny little hairs protruding from it's compound eyes. They can see anything from 1cm to 200m in sharp focus with each eye containing 17,ooo ommatidium or light receptors. They are consequently very sensitive to change in light and dark and combined with a high flicker-vision of 150 images per second may help the eye to put together the pieces of the mosaic produced by the compound eye into a single image. They see polarized light as well as visible radiation and UV light which helps with navigation especially to flowers which have UV patterns to guide them in to land for the nectar.

The summer is drawing to a close, we have only a few more days before the weather is going to turn I'm told, so I make no apology for yet another butterfly :))