Small Tortoiseshell

A warm sunny start to the day but as the temperature continued to rise the sun decided that it had enough and by lunchtime it had disappeared along with the blue sky.

My solar panels were cleaned and checked by 10 o'clock so it was off for a spot of shopping, including buying petrol and then along to the Heritage Park for a walk while the heat and humidity were still bearable. 

I was doing some wild flower recognition when I spotted this lone Small Tortoiseshell butterfly flying among the creeping thistles. Camera at the ready, battery dead!  I had a spare but was sure the wee butterfly wouldn't wait for me to be ready but it did.

I did a little cutting back of the larger of my two remaining weigelas but it was so hot and sticky that I ended up bringing my large cuttings indoors to finish the job of cutting small for the bin.