Ragwort Beauty

Needing to escape the noise of the building work opposite, I took a calming walk up onto the Frimley Fuel Allotments with just the camera and long lens.  The ponds I visited a few weeks ago were sadly much lower than before, even after last night's rain, with no fauna in sight.  However up near the ex-army parade grounds the ragwort was fairly teaming with life, and I saw bees, commas, five-spot burnets (and their caterpillars) and small skippers galore. But the star of the show had to be this male gatekeeper butterfly; the first I have managed to catch this year with wings open to show the dark markings which indicate his gender.

Meanwhile, overhead the sound of this year's Farnborough Air Show display were to be heard, and I was fortunate to catch a couple of shots of a fly pass (extra). Post-processing and research later reveal this to be the "Black Eagles" display team of the Republic of Korea Air Force, flying T-50 aircraft.

I walked home along the perimeter fence of the ranges, curious to see the extent of the wildfire damage. The fire had clearly reached a good proportion of the range, and some bits are even now still smouldering, but most of the trees and large shrubs seem to be relatively unscathed so fingers crossed it will recover quickly.

All-in-all, a good walk, and most of the noisy work seemed be have been done by the time I got home!