The Last Hope

On Friday evening Adrian Russell asked the question, How many of you have got lots of butterflies in your garden this year? Most butterfly species have been declining in the UK for some years but this season seems to be particularly calamitous. However dire the plight of butterflies in your garden, in the countryside - away from a few oases - it's worse. Agricultural intensification has turned most of the countryside into a biodiversity desert. Gardens might be the last hope. 

This year, for various reasons, we have not cut the patch of grass at the back of our house we can no longer, even laughingly, call a lawn. It has bloomed with Timothy and clouds of Yorkshire Fog. It's brimming with grass moths and yesterday the Ringlets arrived. I can't remember ever seeing a Ringlet in our garden before, but I am sure that if we had followed the weekly mowing regime of previous years they wouldn't be there. I can't convey how happy this makes me using mere words. 


I'm thinking of buying a cow. Just a small one.


Ringlet, Aphantopus hyperantus.

Nikon D7200
Tokina 100mm f/2.8
f16 1/160 ISO 1600