Speckled Wood - Pararge aegeria

Cycled down to the polling station to do my civic duty, even though according to Voter Power "In Hertfordshire North East, one person does not really have one vote, they have the equivalent of 0.112 votes. The power of voters in this constituency is based on the probability of the seat changing hands and its size. While you might think that every vote counts equally, where you live in the UK has a huge effect on your power to influence the election."

Anyway my reward for being a good citizen was to have a good blipping day. I cycled back via the village pond, which is not exactly photogenic and hidden away behind the cricket pitch. There were the requisite pair of Mallards, but rooting around on the bank in the undergrowth were a pair of Moorhens with six chicks. I settled down with the camera and managed to get a couple of good shots as they emerged every now and again.

Back home there was a Blackbird sunning itself on the ground with its wings spread out - another nice shot. Then a couple of butterflies were flying around chasing each other so cranked the camera up to 1/4000" and managed to get a really unusual shot of them both frozen in mid flight. One of them then lands in the Magnolia and the auto focus clicks in to give a really sharp shot, so after much debate in the longshanks household today's blip is of the Speckled Wood Butterfly Pararge aegeria in the Magnolia.

Even nicer in large.