Macro!

The beautiful sunny weather we've had recently has meant that, although theres very few birds knocking around or active, theres been a plethora of butterflies and other insects on the wild flowers locally to our house. After spending a relatively quiet morning on Hilbre where there were lots of butterflies on the wing I planned a trip out from home once I'd had some lunch and sorted out a few chores.

Deciding to take the macro lens out with me I intended looking for a few more butterfly species. A successful trip with the first Gatekeepers flitting along the field margins and a few Meadow Browns knocking around.

Star butterfly though was a Comma that spent a good hour coming back to the same aspen to sun itself and then landed on my hand presumably to get salt from the sweat that was leaking out of every pore.

A fabulous experience.
Other insects were also very active including a number of Marmalade Fly's ( a species of hover fly) and large numbers of Soldier Beetles.

Some nice flowers seen as well with Greater Willow herb, Ragwort, Field Pansy and Hedgerow Cranesbill all offering a different perspective through the macro lens.

Some bird relief was provided by the large number (c200) Swifts passing high and flying south in silence. I only noticed them as  I was watching a couple of Lesser Black-backed gulls circling and picked up the Swifts way above them.

All in all a nice relaxing way to spend a hot summers afternoon.