June bugs and blues

ow June has flown, in a haze of wind, rain and butterflies... I moved to Somerset at the end of May and was immediately thrown into the whirl of Large Blue butterfly rangering, as they had emerged early, with the first sighting on the 27th May.

My days have since been filled with transects, thunderstorms, sheltering beneath the Turkey Oak, Large Blues a go go, sunburnt noses and a lot of chasing flutters in the distance. Here are a few of my favourite pictures from Collard Hill so far...

View from the office - the 'Land of Counterpane'

Freshly emerged on Wild Thyme

Open wings!

A prickly boudoir for love

Wasp Orchid - Ophyrs apifera var trollii

Marbled White nectaring on Small Scabious

The Land of Counterpane
by Robert Louis Stevenson  

 

When I was sick and lay a-bed, 

I had two pillows at my head,
And all my toys beside me lay,
To keep me happy all the day.

And sometimes for an hour or so
I watched my leaden soldiers go,
With different uniforms and drills,
Among the bed-clothes, through the hills;

And sometimes sent my ships in fleets
All up and down among the sheets;
Or brought my trees and houses out,
And planted cities all about.

I was the giant great and still
That sits upon the pillow-hill,
And sees before him, dale and plain,
The pleasant land of counterpane.