This was the view looking southeast down the Sound of Mull just before midnight last night, with a full moon and a warm southwester drawing clouds across the sky. Within minutes the rain came and, during the rest of the night, we were treated to a good 15mm of Kilchoan moonshine.
But by eleven this morning the sky had cleared and we were enjoying one of the warmest and most pleasant days this summer - quite at variance with what the forecast had promised us a couple of days ago. It was so warm that....
....the late summer butterflies appeared, with this peacock the first out, warming himself in the sun, followed by....
....this large white. It's a long time since we last identified one of this species, so we were excited, until....
....it began doing what all whites are good at: laying its eggs on the nearest brassica, in this case some of our new and, until now, relatively pristine kale.
Soon after, we had butterflies everywhere, though they concentrated on the much-neglected buddleia. At one point we had two peacocks, a tortoiseshell and a red admiral enjoying its nectar along with lots of bees, some flies, and a rather strange wasp.
Dear Jon, sorry to disappoint but the Large White might be large and white but it is in fact a Green Veined White. You can take heart though that they usually only lay eggs on wild crucifers but yours has chosen your fine brassicas. The Peacock is probably the best photograph I have ever seen of one and the Tortoiseshell looks 3D; have you been using a tripod or secret technique to repress the Raptor? Photo of 'strange wasp' please.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Derryck. Oh dear, and I was so pleased that I had found a large white - but thanks for correcting me. No, no new techniques in the photography, but I'm getting better at judging the use of the macro setting. Photo of strange wasp will follow. Jon
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