Big Butterfly Count begins today

will you spend about 15 mins a day to sit and watch out for butterflies ?? Ive been doing this each July for several years now, and I find it verfy peaceful sitting quietly in the garden looking out for butterflies fluttering by and recording how many Ive seen on the website...sadly, like the bees around here, there are fewer each year... but I usually see one or two that are new to me, and that makes it so worthwhile, as well as the joy of seeing familiar beauties fluttering by... This year Ive decided to download the Big Butterfly Count App, and it looks so much easier to record the butterflies. Do download it and see for yourself :) I have been trying to add / upload a photo onto this blog, but there must be some mistake as no link is available... usually I can search here for one of my photos... but all I get this morning is a blank page coming up on the screen : so sorry !

Saturday

have you seen any butterflies yet ?

I have seen a peacock butterfly... and there are a couple of small holly blues 

flitting around enjoying the sunshine...

butterfly-conservation.org       scroll down the page to join in the butterfly survey or find a children's colouring competition
If, like me, you are not sure of the names...there is a very good identification page as part of the butterfly survey...all you need remember is, what the butterfly looked like...

Wednesday : Judas : forgiveness window

engraved glass by Laurence Whistler

St Nicholas Church, Moreton

detail of Forgiveness Window, St Nicholas Moreton

As you can probably guess, this church originally had coloured stained glass windows... but they were destroyed by a WW2 bomb. Over many years they were gradually replaced by a series of beautiful etched glass windows by Laurence Whistler ( a relative of the oil painter ).
     The Forgiveness Window was donated by the engraver, but only at last accepted by the church many years after his death... it depicts Judas’ suicide... but as the 30 pieces of silver fall from his dying hands the coins are transformed into seedlings... a moving visual symbol of forgiveness & new life.

you can see more of these windows by searching on Pinterest or Google

Butterfly Count 2015

There seem to be fewer butterflies around... is this true ? or is it just in our garden ?

I saw this beautiful Peacock butterfly a couple of years ago, but haven't noticed any since then... 

Has anyone seen any of them this year ?

I just happened to come across an advert for the  Butterfly Count... for the next week or two, until August 9th... & spent a lovely quiet 15 mins watching for butterflies.

 Saw a few large white butterflies circling around one another and then fluttering away on the breeze, or gently floating into the lavender... a couple of very small brown ones, or so I thought...but they turned out to be bees, also enjoying the lavender !  

  I was really surprised how few butterflies I saw... I thought we had planted several butterfly friendly plants...so where are all the other butterflies ? 

...years ago we used to see Red Admirals,  and many others I couldnt name...but theres a very good identification page to download from  

   

  www.bigbutterflycount.org  

A few years ago I visited a tropical butterfly house, and saw this amazing Blue Morpho which landed on a large banana leaf and basked in a pool of sunlight.

At first its wings were tightly closed & I was fascinated by the "eyes" & other patterns, quickly sketching away while it sat obligingly, almost as though it knew it was sitting for its portrait!

Can you imagine my surprise when it suddenly began to open its wings...just enough for me to glimpse this brilliant blue inside. What a challenge...could I possibly paint its portrait with this vibrant blue ? it took a long time to give the appearance of glimmer and shine, experimenting with various blue glazes...and, yes, this is one of those oil paintings that is best viewed from a distance... with, perhaps, a little time just to sit in silence....?