Speckled Wood Butterfly

It was the first time for many a long day that a butterfly rested long enough to take a photo while we were taking our afternoon bout of exercise. This Speckled Wood was looking a bit the worse for wear.



Many thanks to Adrian and The Wessex Reiver who pointed me in the right direction for the identification of yesterday's unidentified fly. It would appear to be one of a large number of flies in the group of Empid flies. Reading about their lifestyle I would guess the vacuuming of the lily pad included catching some of the mites which abounded on the leaf. I have a feeling that those tiny creatures are also partly the reason the Blue-tailed damselflies spend so much time on the lily pads - a constant source of three square meals a day!

Weather has been very changeable and a certain hairy monster gets withdrawal symptoms if he can't spend the day sunbathing on the lawn.



Fortunately the rain had stopped by the time Bobby took me for my afternoon walkies.