Aglais io, the European peacock
Aglais io, the European peacock (Wikipedia)
Ever since I bought my latest iPhone (13) I've been using it for photography. My previous camera had died and rather than buy a new camera I decided to update my phone and see how that worked as a camera. In general I am impressed by the phone camera but now and again I miss the optical zoom and macro possibilities offered by a real camera. Fortunately Jan still has her Lumix DMC-TZ80 so a couple of days ago we dug it out and charged it up.
When I went out into the garden today the oregano and mint were full of feeding insects including a whole flock of these European peacock butterflies, and a couple of silver-washed fritillaries. With the camera I was able to get this picture of one of the peacocks.
As well as photographing butterflies I went into the forest behind the house with the berry picker and a couple of liter containers. When we walked yesterday we found some areas where the bilberries were growing in large numbers. My plan was to come home with two liters of berries and another liter in the picker. I got two liters and then some unexpected rain arrived. Fortunately I was near enough to home to get back in a couple of minutes so I didn't get too wet.
I'd picked carefully, cleaning out leaves, twigs and bits of plant as I went, so getting the berries into the freezer didn't take so long. The freezer is beginning to look quite full but I think there is still room for more bilberries, a rather reduced blackcurrant harvest, and all the blackberries that have ripened by the time we head off to England.
When we go away in the summer, or even the autumn, we always seem to miss part of the harvest but one can't have everything!
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