Tag: nature

Embroidered Butterfly #10 {Comma}

On By ArtyMissKIn Art, Needlework Bugs8 Comments

Hey friends! 

Last week I posted a bonus Butterfly tale about a Comma butterfly that I accidentally rescued on a nettle plant – a rather ragged brown and orange chap who usually lives in the woods, I felt so super excited to have fostered one of these so late in the year that I couldn’t help but want to create a needlework version. 

Comma have a real life wingspan of up to 6cm. There isn’t too much difference between and males and females (which I’m glad about as the pattern was super fiddly!) All in all my needlework version has a wingspan of about 11cm to keep it inline with my ‘twice life size’ scale.

Its been great to create a different wing shape, the ragged edges were so much fun to try and recreate although the wire was so uncooperative! I know I say this with every one I make but this one is definitely my favourite so far.

Also this rather lovely fella is #10 on my needlework butterfly challenge (whoo-hoo I’m in double figures!!).

That’s a wrap for this week…another butterfly finished only another 50 or so to go!! I’m really hoping that you’ll stay with me while I needlework my way through our native butterflies. Thank you so much for checking out this post!

© ArtyMissK 2024

Raising a Comma Butterfly

On By ArtyMissKIn Conservation, Photography4 Comments

Hey friends! 

This week I’ve got a bonus butterfly tale for you, I’m really very excited about this one!!

Over the last couple of months I’ve been raising a grand total of 61 Red Admiral butterflies and during that time I’ve dug up many, many nettle plants for them to eat. When they start to pupate I like to add a fresh plant or two so that when they emerge there is a nice, new host plant for them to (hopefully) lay more eggs on.

At one point I had 6 Red ads pupating in a house of their own and after a few days I noticed the nettle I had prepared for them was being eaten, well, it turned out to have an occupant! One lone Comma caterpillar was quite happily eating its way through my new nettle.

Comma (Polygonia c-album) is another of our native butterflies, its one of the quirkiest looking ones we have here. They have scalloped wing edges which with the dark markings on the undersides of its wings camouflage it to resemble a dead leaf! 

Continue reading “Raising a Comma Butterfly” →

Ore Stained Landscape {One frame}

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography

Hello my Friends!

I’ve got a new One frame to share with you this week, I recently spent the day at a place called Wheal fortune – which is an old Cornish mining sight used for mining copper and tin up until the 1880’s. 

Anyway, its been an age since I posted a landscape shot (as opposed to a tree shot) and this was such an amazing setting to be in. The mining systems in Cornwall are incredible – this is actually where the pollutants washed away and seeing how the ores have stained the landscape through human activity is weirdly heavy on the soul.

It does however make a beautiful landscape to photograph – it kinda reminds me of a Bob Ross painting (he was an oil painter in the 80/90’s and an all round nice guy) he liked to paint happy little trees…I’m very much of the opinion of in life always try to be a bit like Bob Ross!

I love the layers of this image, there’s the reflective water, the red/orange stained rocks which moves into the bright and rich tones of green and a moody sky. The views of the whole site were both amazing and horrific – its comes as a shock when you see how we (as humans) are willing to destroy the landscape in search of metals and the damage it leaves behind.

That’s it for this week, I hope you like the little slice of landscape serenity. How is the weather where you are? Next weeks post is shaping up to be a new surprise Butterfly tale! 

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

Embroidered Butterfly #9 {Red Admiral}

On By ArtyMissKIn Art, Needlework Bugs2 Comments

Hey friends! 

A few weeks back I posted a Butterfly tale about raising a bunch of Red Admiral butterflies and I’ve enjoyed their company all summer (in total I will have raised 60 of them this year) so I had to make a needlework version which is #9 on my embroidered butterfly challenge!

A Red ad has a real life wingspan of about 7.2cm, so its definitely one of our biggest butterflies. My needlework version has a wingspan of about 14.5cm to keep him inline with my ‘twice life size’ scale, so it just beats the Peacock I made recently for size. (Weirdly when I think of Red ads they’re always boys, I have absolutely no idea why.)

Continue reading “Embroidered Butterfly #9 {Red Admiral}” →

An Early Autumn Flowershoot

On By ArtyMissKIn Photography

Hey friends!

We’ve been blessed with a few extra days of summer and I’ve been holding onto them as much as possible.

I was sitting outside a couple of days ago, listening to the bees buzzing when I suddenly noticed how many of my plants are purple! So I thought why not enjoy the last few rays of perfect sunshine and decided to go on a garden flower safari and I wanted to take you guys along with me so you can enjoy the relaxing atmosphere and pretty plants and a few bugs too! 

Starting off my flowershoot are these tiny purple daisies, I think they’re called Michaelmas daisies (a type of aster) and are a tough perennial that I don’t remember actually planting, but they’re so pretty poking out from underneath/behind other flowers that I’m not going to disturb them.

Continue reading “An Early Autumn Flowershoot” →

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. 

Continue reading “Embroidered Butterfly #8 {Peacock}” →

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!