My daughter said "Why's there a butterfly in the garden?" as we ate lunch. There in the sunshine by the back fence was a Red Admiral butterfly.

I've seen butterflies up until 15 November in past years, so this may be the last butterfly sighting for this year. It's time for the last few butterflies in flight to find somewhere to hibernate for the winter.

It seems more than just coincidence that I'm in a similar position to those butterflies: I have been offered the chance to hibernate in Cheltenham General Hospital & Bristol Children's Hospital (site of the regional bone marrow transplant unit). I'm being admitted to Cheltenham next weekend.