Autumn colour

We're just getting the first hints of genuine Autumn here, as opposed to the 'fake' version which seemed to be coming with all the prematurely falling, drought-stricken leaves. This means the prospect of vivid colours in the next month or so, but the butterfly world is not waiting until then.

The Red Admirals are emerging in their end of Summer brood. Isn't it marvellous that one of our commonest butterflies is as magnificent as this newly hatched specimen on our Michaelmas Daisies, one of their favourite nectaring flowers? The black-and-white rim to the wings, a delicatefeature of most UK butterfly species when new, is pretty much undamaged and the colours blazing. What a treat!

Likewise this fresh Comma spotted by P in the C S Lewis Nature Reserve in Oxford, a lovely spot where the writer dreamed up some of his Narnia books and discussed hobbits with his friend J R R Tolkien. The 12 acres of wild wood with a large pond were saved for us all by the generosity of Dora Stephen, a distinguished academic chemist who gave the land in memory of her husband Henry, also celebrated in chemistry. The reserve was originally named in his honour but pretty much all mention of the family seems to have been dropped by the Berkeshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust to whom the land was given. That ought to be put right.

By the pond, we saw these mating dragonflies, first flying and then settling down for, I hope, a more comfortable time. Update: Many thanks as always to Conehead in Comments for ID-ing them as Common Darters.Meanwhile our grandchildren have moved house and I found this lovely Small Copper on their gradually-reviving lawn, along with a very co-operative kingfisher on the nearby river.

The moths are going through a relatively quiet time, modest in numbers - perhaps the effect of bright moons - and rather drab in appearance. Here's a selection: Light Emerald, Old Lady (somewhat woebegone but still a powerful flyer once she had woken up), Angle Shades, Snout, a very pretty Vestal and the micro moth Acleris emargana. And in the second composite photo, some of a current invasion of second generation Willow Beauties, a brood mostly confined to the southern part of the UK.

Finally, I do my best to protect the comatose morning moths from predators but not always successfully. Birds are very clever at tracking the eggboxes down, even if they are stowed away in our shed. And at least one moth paid the price for creeping under our garden table. A spider was lurking... And update: thanks again to Conehead, this is a Walnut Orbweaver, Nuctenea umbratica. Not surprisingly, as my grandchildren's treehouse is in  fine old walnut tree.