Lunchtime on a sunny, September Saturday and my daughter said "I like castles. Is there a castle nearby that we could visit?" So we went on a family trip to Berkeley Castle. After touring the castle, we went outside into the gardens. It was windy but I managed to photograph a single Painted Lady butterfly on the Verbena bonariensis (along with one Small Tortoiseshell butterfly).



Berkeley Castle also has a butterfly house, which was an added bonus.




I took lots of photos but most of them were blurred! I would recommend a visit if you are nearby.

We stopped at Coaley Peak on the way home. I glimpsed a blue butterfly briefly but didn't get a photo. I saw that there were large patches of Hemp Agrimony and knowing that this is a good butterfly plant, I went to investigate.







I saw a Painted Lady butterfly, one or two Comma butterflies, several Small Tortoiseshell butterflies and FOUR Red Admiral butterflies close together. I was delighted. There has been a shortage of butterflies in my garden this year (too dry?) and no butterflies on the blackberries along the path to town unlike previous years, so I wondered if they'd already gone into hibernation.

Next to this patch of Hemp agrimony was a Bramble patch but there were no butterflies feeding on the blackberries there. It seems Hemp agrimony is 'flavour of the month', although I haven't seen any butterflies on the Hemp agrimony growing in my garden.