Emergency butterfly

I like to post at least one photo of a Meadow Brown each summer, and at least one photo of something or other feeding on our blue hebe. This year, in the interests of efficiency, I've combined them.

Efficiency was the order of the day today, in looking for photographic subjects, because it was concert day and I had a lot of other things to do. My "quick whizz" around the garden was somewhat hijacked, I confess, by a ruby-tailed wasp, which turned up on one of the Norway maples in the wild garden, requiring me to fetch a hop-up step and spend several hot and frustrated minutes trying to get focus on it, as it zoomed around (like they do) on leaves that were wafting back and forth in the breeze.

And - breathe...

Eventually I did manage some approximately focused images of the wasp, but they're only good enough to serve as a record of the sighting, so in the end I've gone with this, which was actually my first photo of the day. Having secured some photos, I rushed back into my study and spent a couple of hours working on the sections of music I still didn't feel fully on top of, before going over to Chipping Campden for a 3-hour final rehearsal.

The concert this evening went pretty well, and the audience (as is usual at Campden) were very generous and appreciative. It's been quite a difficult season, with some tricky pieces I'd never sung before, and which I struggled to learn to love, but I find that there's something about hearing them come together in performance that makes you appreciate them more. Having said which, I hope that next term sees us back in more familiar territory.