Saturday 8 September 2012

September - Gorgeous so far!

September started very nicely for me - I'm a keen lover of all the
forms of life which visit my garden and I had a treat earlier this week
when I spotted an unusual butterfly on our Buddleia.  Before going out
to investigate I had a look through the binoculars and couldn't believe
my eyes!  It was a Camberwell Beauty!  We have lived in Lincolnshire
for 24 years and this was the first one we have ever seen in our garden.
Its a rare and infrequent visitor to the East Coast of England (we live
not too far away from the Wash) and although we used to get many,
many varieties of butterflies, in the last three years or so  we have 
noticed that we see only a fraction of those who used to be regulars.
This year in particular started off very badly and when it came to the
Weekend Butterfly Count, I would have had to say - 'no sightings at
all'! However, after having carefully checked with the binoculars in
case I disturbed it, I grabbed my camera and proceeded very
carefully towards the Buddleia.  I need not have worried. Luckily this
is one of the less nervous species!  It just carried on feeding! 
I took some shots but then it very co-operatively moved down to a
branch just on my eye level and I had a field day!  It posed for me at
every possible angle!  Here are the results!    And to 'ice the cake' so
to speak, it stayed all day on that one large bush often accompanied
by Red Admirals, Peacocks and a couple of Small Tortoiseshells. 
When I enlarged the photos I even found one which had a Silver Y
sharing the flower but unfortunately he was out of focus!


 



Also, as promised I want to include a photo of the Bird Cage similar to the one which Jazzi filled so beautifully with 'An Afternoon Tea Party'.  I am going to include one of  Jazzi's photos too, hopefully with a link to her post!

My Bird Cage - Height is 17" and diameter 10"
It is made of cast iron and I think the mesh part is steel.


 


9 comments:

  1. What a lucky day to spot such a rare butterfly! And it looks like you're going to start a stunning new project now!

    Greetings
    Birgit

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    Replies
    1. Yes, Birgit - I was really pleased to be able
      to get so many great photographs too! To-day
      I had a visitor on our garden table when I was having breakfast outside - a dragonfly which
      we haven't had before and it is the first
      we have had all this summer. Unfortunately
      he didn't stay around till I got the camera!

      I dont think I'm going to tackle the Bird
      Cage - I have a friend, much more talented
      than I am, who wants to try a Dragon scene - complete with mountains and so on - she fell in love with my cage as soon as she saw it!

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  2. how lucky that you could take pictures of the butterfly! Thank you for sharing1 it is so nice to see!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Anna - Just in the right place at the right time! I am dying to hear where MJ is - surely she will arrive with her new hostess soon!
      Hugs - Annette

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  3. Thank you for sharing your beautiful pictures. I also noticed that this year butterflies were in short supply. Though a few seen this week. The cake is lovely. Wow I would love to see what your friend does with it.
    Hugs Maria

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    Replies
    1. Apparently our weather is about to change to very much colder so I was lucky to get the photos.
      I also managed to take some to-day of the dragonfly which I will put on the blog later.
      I will post photos of what my friend does with my cage - it will probably take her quite a long time to finish it! Hugs - Annette

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  4. Wow...loving the butterflies! We have a certain type of flowering bush here the butterflies all congregate on in spring and summer..but we don't have these beautiful varieties!
    Your cage is so unusual Annette! It will look fab with some paint...I like your friend's idea of decorating it too! Gave mine to my daughter yesterday and she loved it!

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    Replies
    1. Its been so encouraging to get so many comments, Jaz! I've had another lovely morning
      eating out in the sunshine and managed to
      get some photos of a Large Red Damselfly so
      I'll try to add those later.
      But the weather is forecast to change tonight
      so then it should be back to making minis...!Still waiting to hear where MJ is - I know you must be anxious too! Many hugs....Annette

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  5. Hi Annette,
    Thanks for the lovely comments you left on my blog! I was a bit confused this morning because someone else started following my blog through google friend connect but it wasn't you, it's someone who doesn't have a blog! I wanted to write a message to your inbox but when I clicked on the contact me link on your blog it didn't work. I can certainly help you with this problem if you'd like. Also, I'm not sure if you want to follow my blog through google friend connect and just didn't have time (Time difference between England and Canada) or what :P You can get in touch with me by clicking on "View my Complete Profile" and clicking on "contact me" or even by commenting on one of my blog posts. Since I have threaded comments set up, every comment arrives directly in my inbox.
    Cheers!
    Ruth

    ReplyDelete