Butterflies!

I was up in the wood to do some work on Thursday (see earlier post), and saw more butterflies than I ever had before in one day there!

The area I was working was where we'd seen the White Admiral last weekend, and as I was in the at spot for several hours, I saw a lot more of them. At one point there were three at once, chasing each other around! It's exciting to see that we've created a habitat for them - they were not to be seen in our wood at this time last year - especially as they are a priority species on the Biodiversity Action Plan. I got some better pictures of several of them:
However, the first butterfly I saw in the wood was before I'd even dumped the stuff I was carrying. It was fluttering around a clearing we'd made felling birch on the ride edge almost a year ago:
Here it is: the Speckled Wood:
While I was working, there was a small orange and brown butterfly zipping around, but never stopping for me to get a photo. However, while on a break I wandered over to our entrance, and caught one on the ground - it's a Meadow Brown
Nearby was another as yet unidentified butterfly:
I also saw (but did not get to photograph) a Brimstone, what was probably an Orange Tip and something small and blue!

Of course, there were other insects around too, such as these dragonflies:
The very first blackberries are now beginning to ripen:
and something strange has happened to our pond - the green foam has gone:
This happened to the smaller downstream pond too, so maybe it's just a stage they go through? There are still plants growing in it, so we will wait and see what happens...

Mike