Gatekeeper

The weather today was slightly better than the rest of the week so far, though that is not really saying much. 

We decided we would go over to Chambers Wood late morning to see what butterflies were around. Purple hairstreaks, purple emperors and white admirals have been sighted but none appeared while we were around. We did see silver wash fritillaries, red admirals, gatekeepers, various skippers and a silver Y, along with shield bugs, crickets, grasshoppers, a wide variety of bees, flies and beetles and a big scary spider that I could have happily done without seeing! 

I had more problems with my camera - it did not want to focus on the intended subject for macro shots, preferring instead to pick up whatever was at the edge of the viewfinder - rather inconvenient as I was there to get shots of small creatures. So I decided to go for shots that show the butterfly, bee etc. in its surroundings rather than be forced into just taking scenery shots.

Home for lunch. I wanted a cheese and pickle roll, but the bread rolls were mouldy so I had cheese on toast instead!

Then it was time to go visit my Dad. He had not had a very good nights' sleep, partly because it was too hot and partly, I think, because he is worried about being sent home. He would like to stay in there permanently. His hand is playing up again too. 

I had a chat with them to find out what the plan is for him and they assured me that they are not turfing him out just yet - the person that is handling his case on behalf of Social Services is off work at the moment so nothing is being sorted from that quarter, and they are concerned about his hand again too. They assured me that when they do decide he is ready to go home that we will get notice - it won't be like the hospital where they tell you the day before. So that is reassuring at least...