Vanessa, Nabokov's Red Admirable

It was beautifully mild and sunny this morning. I spent a pleasant time in our disused carpark photographing insects on the few wild flowers that are still blooming. I pulled all the ragwort a couple of years ago but a few plants persist. I got a minute solitary bee, a selection of hoverflies and a tiny red beetle. I also got a snail-eating, marsh fly near the thrush's anvil.

When I went back to the house to make soup for lunch the grapevine outside the back door was alive with red admiral butterflies attracted by the smell of ripe grapes hanging in the air.

I've never met Vanessa, the wife of a bandleader who Mr Q plays with but she got married to him in a big, bright red dress. I think of this when I see Vanessa atalanta. This butterfly featured in Nabokov's Pale Fire, I've read up on this but I think it's a bit beyond me. However, I do get that Nabokov liked to call the Red Admiral Red Admirable as it was originally known.

Admirable for being one of the last butterflies on the wing, sometimes even into November.