Bright elusive butterfly

Another burst water main in Oban this morning – we’ve had so many over the past year, though at least this one was in a different place. Rockfield Road, this time, the shortest drive down to the town and the one that I took this morning en route to a dental appointment. I took the signed diversion, which did a loop and took me back to where I began, forcing me to drive across to the only other means of descent and back through a completely congested town. What would have taken me 7 or 8 minutes was extend to more than 20! A little more information would have been good! If I'd known I would have walked in half the time.

On my return I sat out in the sun with a book for a while and then went down the drive to look at one of my fuchsias which is particularly good at the moment. While I was taking a few pictures a Red Admiral came fluttering along and landed on one of the flowers. It stayed there for a long time, but sat with its wings folded for ages! I took quite a few pictures of which I think this one was the best.

This fuchsia is an interesting one. ‘Bernisser Hardy’ is a cross between F. magellanica var. molinae and F. regia and is not absolutely and totally hardy, sometime being cut to the ground in hard winters. It regrows from the base though, just as some of the other F. magellanica forms do. A beautiful plant and well worth seeking out.