I saw a Red Admiral butterfly along the path on the way to town this morning; I saw 2 of them on the way back.

I think it was a Comma butterfly that I disturbed in my front garden this afternoon. I've been busy filling my garden-recycling-wheelie-bin today; it smells wonderful - herbs and lavender trimmings!

Yesterday, I went to the garden centre to buy some bulbs to cheer me up in the Spring. Would you believe that I came back with a Buddleia? It was flowering. I couldn't resist.

Two Comma butterflies, a Speckled Wood and a Brimstone butterfly were in the back garden at lunchtime.

I also saw a Red Admiral butterfly on my return from town this morning.

A Red Admiral butterfly was on one of the Hebe plants in the front garden this morning.



I was busy tidying the back garden this afternoon, in the company of a Comma butterfly and a Small White butterfly.





Here both butterflies are resting a few feet from one another on the Eleagnus. Large Shrubs are useful as perches for the butterflies. The Comma butterfly had been feeding on Sedum spectabile and Hemp agrimony.

Arrived home this afternoon to find a Red Admiral butterfly on a Hebe in the front garden.





A quick tour of the back garden revealed a Speckled Wood butterfly and a Large White butterfly.

Out all day but as I sat in the armchair about 7 this evening, I glanced outside and witnessed a Hummingbird Hawkmoth moving from one Verbena bonariensis flower to the next. In just a few seconds, it had visited half a dozen flowerheads.

I saw my haematologist this morning. I have myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) - put simply, bone marrow failure/malfunction.

This morning I was busy in the front garden so that I saw a Hummingbird Hawkmoth sampling the Verbena bonariensis quickly as it passed through the garden. There was a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly on Lobelia and later a Red Admiral butterfly was feeding on Ceratostigma and Hebe.

Also saw a Red Admiral and a Small Tortoiseshell on Sedum spectabile in the back garden.

I went out into the garden this morning and spent a couple of hours tidying. I trimmed the dead flowers off some of the Lavender and Hyssop bushes. I cut back two of the Buddleias. It was quite challenging to make sure that I didn't get any scratches: I look very healthy but my blood counts are abnormal so that scratches don't heal like they should. I will hear the results of a recent bone marrow biopsy on Tuesday.

Whilst I was working in the front garden, I had the company of a Hummingbird Hawkmoth on two occasions this morning, visiting Verbena bonariensis flowers. After I'd come in, I spotted one from the kitchen window and I think it was feeding from the Ceratostigma flowers. They are truly fascinating to watch but they move extremely fast so that it's almost impossible to get a photograph.

I went outside this afternoon to take a test photo and this Small Tortoiseshell butterfly was posing on the Sedum spectabile.



The photo looks a bit blurred to me but at least I've managed to get it onto my journal. Please excuse me but I've just got a new computer and I'm hassled by trying to transfer software, email messages, my website files etc. As part of the process I am migrating from using Adobe Photoshop Album with Photoshop Elements version 1 to Photoshop Elements version 3, so I've some learning to do. So let's celebrate that I'm still managing to communicate!

I saw a Hummingbird Hawkmoth feeding on Red Valerian this morning.

At about 3.30 this afternoon, I saw a Hummingbird Hawkmoth visit one of my blue Hyssop plants in the back garden.

Two hours later, I looked out of the kitchen window at the front garden and spotted a Hummingbird Hawkmoth; this one visited Ceratostigma, Caryopteris, Hebe 'Josephine', Buddleia Lochinch and Buddleia lindleyana.

The only butterflies seen today are the White ones. I trimmed my Privet hedge this afternoon. The recycling-wheelie-bin is full of Privet and Buddleia branches.

A Comma butterfly was in the back garden this morning and another Comma was basking at the front this afternoon.



I photographed a small (in size) Large White butterfly on my pink Buddleia this morning.



Visited the Matara garden at Kingscote this afternoon. Speckled Wood butterflies were about - I saw 4 of them.

Two patches of Water Mint next to the ponds had feeding butterflies. A couple of Comma butterflies and a couple of Small Tortoiseshell butterflies were at one pond. Three Small Tortoiseshells and a Peacock butterfly were beside the other pond.

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.

I've only seen Large White and Small White butterflies in the garden recently, and one Small Tortoiseshell butterfly today. I did see a Red Admiral butterfly fly past me up Tetbury Hill in Cirencester this afternoon.