Beetles and butterflies between the showers

My favourite field as one of those showers closed in. Probably the best photo taken on my smartphone so far! 7th July 2012 (just before I saw the butterfly shown below)

Today the sun has come out, term is over, the lad is home from his school music tour to Austria, and all is well with the world. But, it has been a tad showery recently, don’t you think?!

I guess most of us have grumbled about the wet; even if we’re delighted there is no-longer a hosepipe ban, it’s not like we’ve needed the hosepipe!

Female Stagbeetle struggling through the mud 14th July 2012

But just think how the little creatures have faired? Even if you’re a big Stag Beetle, the mud and the wet must make life a huge struggle, not to mention the fact that mid July is actually quite late in the summer to be seeing them! It suggests that the female shown here, hadn’t yet had a chance to lay her eggs perhaps?

For the butterflies, it might seem even worse. If you’re trying to hatch and dry your wings as a deluge like the one shown above arrives, what chance have you got of survival I wonder?

Very poor photo taken on the same smart phone of a Purple Hairstreak butterfly trying to dry its wings as a storm blew in – 7th July 2012

But, the sun has been out, and between the showers it has been a joy to grab a camera, and a walk, and make the most of it. Now that summer has really come perhaps, what more #dogwalkdelights (as I call them) will be revealed? Who knows!

Meadow Brown (left) and Little Skipper butterflies on a thistle 14th July 2012