As I sat at the kitchen table after lunch, I spotted a Red Admiral butterfly fly over the back garden.

I saw a total of 5 butterflies today but only saw two close up; both were Red Admiral butterflies. The first Red Admiral was in the grounds of Clouds Hill in Dorset (National Trust); the second was at the top of Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, Dorset.

A butterfly briefly flapped around the back garden this lunchtime when it was quite warm and sunny. I didn't manage to identify it but it was possibly a Peacock or Red Admiral.

I went to Bath today. We sat on a bench in North Parade Gardens eating our lunch and a Red Admiral butterfly stopped briefly on the plants near us.



It was a lovely sunny October day. This Red Admiral butterfly has clearly not yet gone into hibernation. Will it survive the winter to emerge next Spring?

Just like me.

My cancer is back; there were leukaemia cells in my blood on Tuesday. I'm waiting to hear if I will be able to hibernate in a Bone Marrow Transplant Unit.

Upton House (National Trust) holds the national collection of Asters in their garden. I decided that we would visit today. Michaelmas daisies had attracted butterflies in my last garden. Would I find butterflies in this garden at the beginning of October? Most of the Asters were lilac/purple/pale pink; I found a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly and a Red Admiral butterfly on one plant.



This was Aster novae-angliae 'Andenken an Alma Potschke', so now you know which one to buy! Wonder if other bright pink asters hold the same attraction.
Also found a Small White butterfly on a Dandelion.

I'd missed the top terrace of the gardens but went back to walk along it; I'm so glad that I walked that way for I saw a Hummingbird Hawkmoth.

This was my best photo of this Hummingbird Hawkmoth feeding on a Penstemmon. They move so fast that they're difficult to photograph.