Here’s a little butterfly centred post fluttering its way to you. You might remember that a couple of months ago I posted about rescuing some orange tip butterfly pupae?
Well recently I’ve been caring for 9 Small tortoiseshell caterpillars, which pupated about ten days ago! It was so exciting. I’ve raised these butterflies before, my newly improved butterfly house involves serval pop-up mesh enclosures and many different types of butterfly friendly plants to simulate the outside world – in an attempt to give them a better start in life.
Butterflies in the UK are declining so quickly that I want to be able to save as many of them as I can to help boost the local populations.
I love it when they ‘colour up’ and you can see the suggestion of wing patterns through the shell.
Welcome back to another edition of my random ramblings…how are ya?!
One of my favourite quotes in life is from TheSecret Garden which reads;
If you look the right way, you can see the whole world is a garden.
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Incase I haven’t mentioned it before, I love being outside in nature and gardening is so soothing for the soul.
Anyway, this is the third Fleeting Thought, it’s been like three months since the last one (where have those months gone!!) and I’ve written a haiku about new leaves- you’ve been warned!
So here goes…
I’ve finally taken the plunge into organised gardening (it’s been one of my life goals since forever!) it seems to create much more work than my regular type of gardening which has always generally consisted of one of two simple methods (1) open seed packets and scatter at will or (b) buy plant, dig hole for plant, plant plant.
Can you believe it, we’re already sneaking up on the end of May?! Its finally stopped raining long enough to get some proper gardening done and I’m totally loving being outdoors!
Anyway, its been about a month since I posted my last One Frame and I’ve got a new shot of some beautiful green leaves to share with you this week. When I moved into my home in I totally fell in love with the huge tree at the bottom of the garden and have had to wait for months to identify it.
Aren’t flowers just one of life’s loveliest things?
My inner fairy just wants to be set free and sit amongst them. I recently went on a nature hike and the woods are filled with some of the prettiest wildflowers I’ve ever seen. A thing I love about hiking in the wilds here is that although its hours before you see another human being, the most amazing birdsong fills the air.
I wanted to take you guys along with me so you can enjoy the relaxing atmosphere and pretty flowers too! I hope these photos bring as much joy to your day as much as they did mine.
Seeing as spring has definitely sprung I thought I’d post a little nature filled one frame this week, I was out for a walk the other day and met a recently fledged juvenile blackbird!
Isn’t he beautiful?! At least I think its male because of the really dark wing feathers. Something I didn’t know is that baby blackbirds usually leave the nest before they can actually fly and scramble their way around trees and bushes, while hoping not to be eaten!
Blackbirds are actually a member of the Thrush family and are one of the UK’s most common birds they also have the prettiest of birdsong.
When I took this photo it was a bit nippy but the light was amazing and he was quite happy for me to take his photo. With my camera (which is a bit of a relic) anything at a distance gets a little bit blurry, but this little fella was only about a foot away so I was able to capture his details and I’m super happy with the final image.
So that’s it for this week, one lovely blackbird photographed for this post. I hope you like it. Do you have a favourite wild bird? They are wonderful creatures and I love watching them. As always thanks for reading and have a wonderful week!
This weeks post is a butterfly centred photography collection.
I recently had to have a bit of a clear out in my new garden, for many reasons but mainly that (1) it was full of some seriously dead plants and (B) there was a little section of fencing that connected to the dry stone wall (I mean its literally one of my life goals to have a garden with a dry stone wall) that meant my dog could get out. I felt so bad for having to take away some of the dead plants but needed to make it safe for my pooch.
While I was having this clear out I found four Orange tip butterfly pupae! Being a towny I’ve never really seen these before and the pupae themselves were tiny, but being the bug freak that I am I brought them inside and created an environment for them to finish their transformation and wanted to share the photos with you.
Its been 4 or 5 weeks since my last One Frame and I’ve got a new one to share with you!
Recently I found a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly sunbathing on some really over grown stinging nettles and got a few really good photos of the wee beastie without disturbing it!! Doesn’t it just have the most fluffiest body ever!? And I love how much detail I managed to capture – its eyes are amazing.
The Small tortoiseshell is one of the most well-known butterflies we have in Britain, they are quite possibly my favourite and like a fairly wide range of nectar heavy flowers – this year I’m gonna start creating my own butterfly garden for all pollinators to try and do a little bit extra for nature. Hopefully I’ll find lots of other butterflies to photograph.
The natural light was so good that this image taken with my Nikon in macro mode, and only brightened a little in post prod.
Well that’s pretty much it, one photo of one butterfly, I hope you like it. Do you have a favourite bug? They are wonderful little creatures that run our world and make no fuss whatsoever. I’m thinking about creating an embroidered Small tortoiseshell similar to my others (hopefully you’ll come back to see it next week!)
As always thanks for reading and have a wonderful week!
My inner elf just wants to be set free and run through the trees barefoot. I’ve taken a break from decorating this week and given myself a little chance to explore my new surround – a brilliant mix of woodland and fields (filled with sheep!) I can even hear them baa-ing from my bedroom which is amazing!!
The village I’ve moved to is only a mile across and you can walk for miles before you see another human being.
There’s even a 400 year old church and the bell still tolls the hour, which is rather quaint.
The woods are filled with some of the prettiest snowdrops and foliage ever, its so relaxing to be out in the wild – something I wasn’t prepared for was how quiet it is, the bird song at dawn and dusk is incredible and I haven’t heard a plane since I moved!
I wanted to take you guys along with me so you could enjoy the relaxing and calming atmosphere too! I hope these photos bring as much peace to your day as much as they did mine.
Ready?
Let’s go!
Snowdrops are pretty much one of if not my favourite flower. The way they burst out in February showing winter that its time is over for the year while everything else hibernates.
Today I wanted to share my second Fleeting Thought with you. If you’re reading one of my blog posts for the first time (hi/friendly wave) and if your back and happy to read more of my ramblings (massive hug and a beaming smile!!).
For the uninitiated Fleeting Thought is something I’ve come up with while trying to post more of my feelings and be a bit more blog-ish, these wordy posts might sometimes include stories or poetry or maybe be a place were I can put photos/doodles that are a bit random and wouldn’t get a full post.
Now, I’ve also written a haiku – you’ve been warned!
Ready here we go!
Have you ever watched someone create something and thought Yeah, I’ll take a whack at that, it doesn’t look too hard!
Well, I came across sand sculpting online when I discovered that Cornwall hold a few sandcastle competitions in the summer and couldn’t resist having a go on a recent trip to the beach…even though its February and at the very most 13 degrees!
Was I the only lunatic playing in the sand, whilst wearing a wooly jumper…absolutely.
I haven’t built a sandcastle since I was little – one of my favourite childhood memories is my mum, sister and I used to build a boat when on the beach that had a bucket steering wheel, and we’d sail it on various adventures. I thought sand sculpting might be fun to try…it is very much enjoyable, but is much harder than it looks! So on that note I thought I’d share my first (and only) sand sculpting effort.
Also, while I personally love the idea that the human fascination with sandcastles began when mankind first stepped on a beach, there’s an eternal mystery in not knowing who built the first one.
Can you believe it, we’re already halfway through February?! Winter has been so cold and wet this year that it feels like spring is taking an age to get here, so I’ve been taking advantage of every moment of nice weather I can get.
Anyway, its been about a month since I posted my last One Frame and I’ve got a new landscape shot to share this week. The coast of Cornwall is magical and this photo was taken on Perranporth beach where there are some amazing caves/coves, this one is one of my favourites, its not so much a cave but an archway and has so many colours and textures in its stones.
In a weird way it reminds me of a Hag Stone, just on a much bigger scale.
The water that has been trapped until the tide comes back to claim it is super clear but Freezing cold and so much deeper than it looks!
I kinda feel this particular spot might be a portal to Narnia or some other fairytale realm, with how the sun is shining on the cliff behind the arch. One day I might even be brave enough to swim through it…
That’s it for this week, I hope you like the little slice of beachy paradise. How is the weather where you are? Next weeks post is either gonna be the second Fleeting Thoughtor more art.
Thank you so much for reading this post, and I wish you a prosperous week ahead!
ArtyMissK 
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