Fresh and new

 

The year advances but these sunny September days are excellent for butterflies, many of them freshly hatched, the second generation of 2022. The male Common Blue, above, is an example and here's the underside of one of its relatives, below, also on our Michaelmas Daisies which are a terrific bee and butterfly magnet. 

Ditto this Red Admiral which was nectaring so happily on flowering ivy that it was easy to creep up and get a close-in photo. After a while, it skimmed off and did a bit of posing for the the people who look after our canal.

But here's a contrast in Commas: a fresh one from the new generation and then a battered old veteran from the year's first hatching. I know how the latter must sometimes feel...

The Brimstone, meanwhile, which is usually the earliest butterfly to emerge in the UK (hence, some say, the origin of the word'butterfly' from the 'butter-coloured fly'), is into a third or possibly even fourth generation.  This one, below, was pristine - as were the Large and Small White which follow. As someone who grows Purple Sprouting, I do not rejoice at the presence of the last two.

Lastly among today's butterflies, here is a Speckled Wood which finds our gravel drive of absorbing interest. Plus some recent moths; from the top left clockwise: Vine's Rustic (I think), Garden Rose Tortrix, Frosted Orange, Red-Green Carpet, Autumnal Rustic and Lunar Underwing. 

Finally, we often wonder what creatures make little holes in our apples which have to be gouged out before we can crunch. Here is one answer: a greedy woodlouse, caught in the act.