Speckled Wood

On the window sill, I keep a large bowl of odds and sods. The contents are mostly natural and include cones, cuttlefish bones, shells of all sorts and, to the horror of some of my visitors, a badger skull.

Accidentally, this Specked Wood Butterfly, Pararge aegeria, flew in through the open door and after bumping into the window pane landed in the dish. It's not the normal environment in which to photograph a butterfly, but it seemed to fit comfortably amongst the mixture of other items. Once photographed the creature was helped to exit and is now, hopefully, out there looking for a mate. It arrived with the little chunk out of it's wing. The damage wasn't enough to stop it from flying.

The food plants of caterpillars of the Speckled wall are meadow grasses and plants, and the adult butterflies like to stay in the dappled light at the edges of woods. Strangely they like to feed from the sugary secretions of aphids. When aphids are in short supply in the spring and late summer they will turn to feeding from flowers.

This has been a glorious day! Not just the weather. Congratulations to Andy Murray!
As for Abu Qatada. He may find his accommodation a little too hot now he's back in Jordan. :)