Out in the sun

Sorry about the delay in posting - life has been busy. But at least it's given time for the sun to come out and to provide me with a sequel to the last installment.

The sleeper wakes - number one

I mentioned then that I knew the whereabouts of a Peacock butterfly hibernating in Oxford. I revisited it yesterday in temperatures and sunshine worthy of June; and it had gone. But not far.

Here it is, wide awake and beating at the windowpane in that desperate way which many writers have used as a symbol of baffled frustration. I opened the window and off he or she soared. But that wasn't the end of the matter.


Revisiting the room an hour later, I heard the familiar hopeless flutter-flapping and there was a second Peacock. I helped it out but the flapping continued.

Peacock number two

Behind a grubby paint tin, there was a third. Marvellous how these creatures discreetly share the less frequently Spring-cleaned parts of our homes; but lucky that someone was around to make sure that the long winter sleep of these three ended happily.

And the last. All three are now roaming Oxfordshire (or doing their tiny bit to sustain a local bird or birds...