No Place Like Home

I haven't been out much lately and not at all to observe wildlife.

The weather at home was typically good while I was away and there were a few butterflies around for a few days on my return, although nothing out of the ordinary.  

It's funny how you suddenly notice something you hadn't registered before, in this case the white marking on the lower underwing of the red admiral.

Red Admiral

Peacocks and large whites continued to predominate until wet weather took over, plus one speckled wood that landed on the mahonia.

A couple of individual stories though:

This squirrel has turned up a few times, burrowing here and there, clearly in search of acorns he buried earlier.

Squirrel

Just after I turned the camera off, he found one and scoffed it all right on the path beneath the kitchen window.  No wonder I find so many oak saplings in the garden!

A few days ago, in not particularly bright weather and a temperature of 11C, it was a pleasant surprise to see a small butterfly land on one of my T-shirts on the washing line. 

Speckled Wood T-shirt

I thought it might be a small tortoiseshell but photos revealed it to be a speckled wood - perhaps unsurprisingly,
I've already noted how small some of them have been this year.

The strange thing was that, when I went out again after two or three hours to get the washing in, it was still there.

I disturbed it and you could tell it was having difficulty flying in the cold air, so I captured it and took it into the house to warm up a bit.

I've done this before with a red admiral that emerged one December, deceived by a mild spell.

Generally it's recommended to leave them for about 40 minutes before attempting to release them, but this one was up and away in about 15 minutes, so a pleasing result.

It's now at the stage where each year I wonder if one more last butterfly will appear on the buddleia now October is here.  With still a couple of sprigs remaining, I had hopes for today but the forecast bright weather only obliged in brief spells.

I'm out tomorrow and most of Friday, so I suspect that's it - unless of course we get a prolonged spell of Mediterranean weather before Bonfire Night...