Flutterby Bush

And yet another perfect day. I don't usually take the Monday holidays, so this has been a real treat. Mr Dyson and I had the day-off long lie (3rd one in a row for me), and then I took him to pick up his van from the garage. While he went off to do his stuff, I went to get the Observer I forgot to collect yesterday, with the intention of reading it in the garden with a pot of coffee and some croissant.

And I did. While wearing a very nice cotton sundress, that last saw the light of day at a wedding several years ago, and which very much enjoyed getting out of the wardrobe. Due to the fact that I've lost a bit of weight lately, I have got hardly any work clothes which now fit me, so I'm wearing the nearly perfect holiday clothes which usually get worn two weeks a year and are then confined to the suitcase under the bed for the next fifty! And since this weather feels like holidays, they are a perfect fit in all ways.

After a bit of lounging I decided to take my Blip photo; and it was torture today! So much to choose from. When we moved into this house eleven years ago, I was astonished to see so many Peacock butterflies in the garden - I'd never come across them before. However, there were few Small Tortoiseshells - which I had always called Red Admirals before, until I got a wee book which told me differently.

After we had been here a couple of years, we did indeed start to get the occasional Red Admiral proper, and some Painted Ladies. I think I once saw a Small Skipper, but it might have been some kind of day moth. Whatever, I get very excited about how many different varieties we can attract, and have planted 3 different Buddleias to help. We have one of the nice very dark purple ones, a deep pinky-red, and the orange Buddleia Globosa with the round flower balls, rather than the long spikes.

This year I have noticed a real change in the flying population of our garden. Not a single ladybird of any kind. Only a tiny amount of greenfly in late spring, which then disappeared completely. No black or whitefly. So far, a tiny number of wasps (always a good thing as far as I'm concerned), no Red Admirals, only one Painted Lady, hardly any Tortoiseshell again, until this last week. And until today, no Peacocks.

I don't know what everyone else thinks, but I think this is because of the huge amount of stuff grown in poly-tunnels now, and I'm convinced it has got to be bad for the planet, even if it does mean we can buy cheap and tasteless strawberries in November.

Anyway, I lurked with my camera trying to find something nice to snap and was torn between the fat and happy green caterpillars which are now eventually munching their way through my nasturtiums (Bon Appetit boys), or the several different varieties of bee which were happily humming all around my lavender bushes. Eventually a solitary Peacock fluttered into view, and visited the Buddleias in turn. An amazing Tortoiseshell with one very badly damaged wing (half of it was missing, must have been caught on, or by something) alighted on the side wall of the house, and had a wee sunbathe.

In the end though, I decided on his more complete cousin, as this picture just captured the whole of today: beautiful blue sky, loads of greenery, and a general feeling of how nice it is to be alive and living in our beautiful country on a day like today.

Which reminds me, all of our friends who are celebrating Eidd today - I hope you have had a lovely feast to end Ramadan on. It must be so difficult to fast at this time of the year, when the days are so long.