Tag: nature

Raising Red Admiral Butterflies

On By ArtyMissKIn Conservation, Photography2 Comments

Hey friends! I’ve got a new Butterfly tale to share with you, as over the last couple of months I’ve been raising a troupe of super friendly common garden butterflies.

Red Admirals (Vanessa atalanta) are a quick flying regular migrant to these shores and beginning each Spring flocks of Red ads travel northwards from North Africa and mainland Europe. The females that arrive here lay their eggs on common ol’ stinging nettle and from July onwards we have these lovelies to look at…although they overwinter here as well, and I saw them in the area from as early as February.

I love these butterflies they are so pretty and always happy to pose for photos if I’m quiet enough. This year I was lucky enough to find a few little batches of eggs on some of the purpose grown nettles in the garden and I fostered just a small amount of them (literally just a single leaf) and moved them into my butterfly house. Before digging them up a fresh nettle to live on.

Which is a bit weird when I think about it now.

Continue reading “Raising Red Admiral Butterflies” →

Magnificent Forest Dweller {One frame}

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography6 Comments

Hello my Friends!

Can you believe it, we’ve already six days into September?! Before too long the Christmas decorations will be up and we’ll be singing carols!

Anyway, I thought I’d share one of my favourite trees with you this week in a new One Frame. I genuinely think trees are one of the best things about our planet, they do so much for our eco systems and are so easily overlooked or destroyed. This particular one is on one of my favourite hikes in a little out of the way place called Saint Breward. 

Its old and gnarly with so many stout branches snaking off in all directions. I love that at some point someone decided to try and make a swing…although I think its was quite a while ago.

One of the things I love about tree-watching is trying to find faces in them and I’ve stared long enough at this one to convince myself that it does have a face (at least eyes and a nose anyway). I also think it would be perfect for a treehouse.

It won’t be long before all of its lovely green leaves turn brown and litter the ground for the long dark of winter.

But it will still be a beautiful tree.

I hope you like this little slice of tree-ish heaven as much as I do, can you see the face in the tree? Thank you so much for reading this post, and have a lovely, nature filled week!

Embroidered Butterfly #8 {Peacock}

On By ArtyMissKIn Art, Needlework Bugs4 Comments

Hey friends! 

Happy Friday! This week I’ve got a new embroidered butterfly to share with you…

Last week I posted all about my recent experience of raising and caring for nine Peacock butterflies – a very pretty red fellow with large eye spots reminiscent of peacock feathers, I became so attached to the caterpillars and then later the butterflies in my care that I couldn’t help but want to create a needlework version as I really missed them once I released them into the wild. 

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Raising Peacock Butterflies

On By ArtyMissKIn Conservation, Photography3 Comments

Hey friends! I’ve been a day behind all week and woke up convinced today was Friday only to discover that not only is it Saturday but also August 3rd (when did that happen!!)

So today I’m (belatedly) posting my first Butterfly tale of 2024!

As over the last couple of months I’ve been raising a little group of one of the prettiest common garden butterflies we get in the UK.

Peacock (Aglais io) are a beautiful red butterfly with giant eye spots (apparently these confuse predators) that seems to be around at all times of the year and is one of our bigger butterflies. The females lay their eggs on common ol’ stinging nettle in May and we have these lovelies to look at about two months later. Something I find amazing is that the females will lay all of their eggs at once which can be up to 500 eggs!!

Continue reading “Raising Peacock Butterflies” →

Old Forest Tunnel {One frame}

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography4 Comments

Hey Friends!

I’ve got a new One Frame to share with you this week, I recently came across this old tunnel, which runs under a no longer used railway…isn’t it the coolest thing!

Something I’ve always wanted to do was take a photograph from one end of a tunnel looking towards the other end (don’t know why its just one of those random moments on my photography wish-list) and this tunnel was perfect! It had stalagmites and ivy and smelled strongly of bat, but was so pretty…weirdly it was sunny at the far end but raining where I was standing.

It felt pretty magical, and I couldn’t help but imagine Middle Earth was waiting at the other end!!

So yeah, that’s it for this week, remember the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t always a fire. Hopefully next weeks post is either gonna be a new embroidered butterfly or possibly a Fleeting Thought. 

Thank you so much for reading this post, and I wish you a prosperous week ahead!

Little things that run the world! {Insect week 2024}

On By ArtyMissKIn Conservation, Photography6 Comments

Hey friends! How are ya? 

This week has been insect week one of my favourite weeks in the whole year! Insect week – which is run by the Royal entomology society is a fantastic opportunity to learn more about bugs and creepy crawlies! This year I thought I’d share seven photos of seven different types of bugs I’ve recently seen.

I don’t claim to have anywhere near the skillset of a professional photographer and am generally really pleased if my subject hasn’t flown/crawled away before I’ve had a chance to take a few photographs! Some of these are better than others but the thing about photography (in my opinion) is that it doesn’t always need to be perfect, just having fun is key!

Kicking off Insect week 2024 are these cute little green leaf bugs, something I find amazing with bug photography is that they always look so much bigger than in real life, these little guys are actually on the head of an ox eye daisy.

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Traversing the Sandy Grassland {Exploring Cubert Common}

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography2 Comments

Hey friends! How are ya? 

This week I had the opportunity to go exploring on the gently undulating sandy grasslands of a wonderful little National Trust site called Cubert Common – which happens to be one of the few enclosed Commons we have in the country. I had so much fun during that sunny (albeit windy) day and I wanted to take you guys along with me so you can enjoy the relaxing atmosphere and pretty plants too! I hope these photos bring as much joy to your day as much as they did mine.

Cubert Common is a rather tranquil trail though open grassland – its also a Site of Special Scientific Interest as its home to some rare plants and bugs! It’s a beautiful place to walk and is filled with some lovely wildflowers like primrose and cowslips, with yellow flag iris growing in the damp marsh-y bits.

Gotta say for my first trip the beauty of the place was kinda magical.

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Embroidered Butterfly #7 {Pearl-bordered Fritillary}

On By ArtyMissKIn Art, Needlework Bugs2 Comments

Hey friends! 

Last week I posted a One Frame of a Pearl-bordered fritillary – a beautiful black and orange creature who usually lives among the scrub on Bodmin moor, I felt so unbelievably blessed to not only have actually seen so many up close but to have gotten a couple of great photos as well! It goes without saying that a needlework version wasn’t going to be too long in the making!! (its #7 on my embroidered butterfly challenge.)

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Pearl-bordered Fritillary {One frame}

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography

Hello my friends! 

This week I’ve got a new butterfly one frame and I’m super excited to share it with you, I recently went on a flight survey day with Butterfly Conservation with the aim of recording how many Pearl-bordered fritillaries we could find!

In reality we were eight grown-ups wondering around a place called Pendirft bottom on Bodmin moor, either up to our knees in dead bracken or ankle deep in boggy mud…it was awesome!! The views were spectacular, there were deer in the distance, I even found a slow-worm!

All in all we spotted about 25 of these endangered little guys over the five hours we were there (which apparently made it a pretty good year!) and I was totally thrilled to get a few really good shots of one of the butterflies that was a) in focus b) a decent composition and c) in focus. It was fairly close to the end of the day and I think he (or she) must’ve thought this weirdo with the camera has been following us all day, best give her a break and sit still. 

I love how it has blue/grey eyes in contrast to the rest of its being.

A pearl-bordered fritillary was a first for me and the patterns on its underwing were beautiful!! I really like how bright it seems in relation to the dead, dry bracken, plus the light was perfect.

I really hope you like this photo and that my butterfly filled posts spread a little bit of happiness. I’m definitely feeling like making an embroidered one of these! As always thanks for reading and have a wonderful nature filled week!

A day among the flowers

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography5 Comments

Hey friends!

We’re beginning to get increasingly closer to all the beautiful flowers being in bloom and I thought I’d share some recent clicks of pretty flowers I’ve taken. Some from my garden and some from the wild and I wanted to take you guys along with me so you can enjoy the relaxing atmosphere and pretty plants too! 

It wasn’t until I sat to look over my photos that I realised I’d been focusing on pink flowers! I hope these photos bring as much joy to your day as much as they did mine.

Its funny I hadn’t realised just how many plants are pink!

Starting off my wildflower quest is a little light pink Scabious, I love these and am actually growing about a dozen of these plants in my Wildspace, as long as you cut the faded heads off they flower all summer long and the butterflies love them.

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