"You might wake up some morning..."

Perhaps you need to be of a certain age to remember the song I've used for the title of this (you can find the original here (Bob Lind's "Elusive Butterfly") but it came to mind as I was trying to photograph these elusive Red Admirals at Kellie Castle.

They were feeding on a clump of Hemp Agrimony - there wasn't much else in the garden that would attract them, and although the weather was both warm and still, they were extremely nervous and reluctant to settle for any length of time.
Kellie Castle is near Pittenweem, in Fife, and is one of the jewels of the National Trust for Scotland.  Many houses of the same date were unsympathetically restored in Victorian times, but the restoration of Kellie Castle was carried out by the Lorimer family, and has preserved the best of the old whilst adding new touches. The interior has a wonderful mural by Phoebe Anna Traquair in the drawing room.  The garden is a decorative kitchen garden, with a lot of heritage (and local) varieties of fruit and vegetables, including White Melrose apples as bred by the monks at Melrose Abbey, and the produce is on sale at the castle, as well as being used in the excellent cafe. Kellie Castle is well worth a visit; it feels as if the family have just popped out and might be back at any moment, and the friendly and knowledgeable local guides add to the pleasures of the house.
We were very lucky with both the weather and the light, as this last picture demonstrates.

Butterflies by the Lune

During our recent holidays we had a very pleasant walk through Lancaster, along the canal, and then down to the Lune Estuary.  Late summer is always a good time for butterflies, and despite the lack of sunshine we were lucky enough to be able to photograph 2 of them.

Unlike most of its fellows, this small tortoiseshell did stay in one place long enough to be photographed.  Although it's one of the most common butterflies it's very restless. The path went along the top of the dyke protecting the farmland from the high tides, but in parts was almost completely blocked by clumps of nettles and thistles.

Slightly less common is this green veined white (although it was a more docile subject!)

Butterflies on buddleia

To begin with, a pair of butterflies. These were on a buddleia bush: the air was full of the scent of honey, as you would expect from a buddleia in full sun, and the air was full of butterfiles: peacock's red admiral, and the occasional comma and small tortoiseshell.

It was quite difficult to pick out a shot of the butterflies: it was a little windy, and the bees and hoverflies which were also feeding on the nectar kept disturbing them.  Eventually these two settled on the same spray of flowers for just long enough fo me to press the shutter button.