August blues...

I'm still feeling very tired. I think I have a bit of a virus - not an infrequent occurrence at the end of the field season - a result of it being quite physically demanding and with no chance for a rest. Now that things are winding down a bit, my body seems to have decided to wind down too - which is not allowed just yet as I'm leading two walks tomorrow and have more sites to survey next week!! I have to say I'm beginning to long for autumn...

I was going to go out and do some voluntary plant recording today, but in the end I couldn't face it, so busied myself with domestic chores and had a couple of hours walking Rosie at Ring Haw. While many sites are starting to look a bit sad and tired, parts of this site were still stunning, with sheets of delicate soft mauve small scabious on the old calcining banks and magnificent stands of woolly thistle round the field centre.

There were also plenty of butterflies including large numbers of common blues. These rarely stay still for long, especially when there's a bit of a breeze, but I managed to catch this one perched on a small scabious flower. Such a lovely colour combination :)