Lesley Smitheringale Fine Art

Garden Guests Diary - Elusive Butterflies [28 March 2008]

There are still lots of butterflies fluttering around my garden and I find them to be a frustration as they rarely choose to land anywhere near me and if I’m on one side of the yard, they will be on the other side just to annoy me even more! I have seen some beauties flutter around me and I just sigh as they dart off. I’ve even resorted to following them around the garden but that doesn’t work either as they still don’t quite like the flowers they see and off they go, usually into my neighbour’s garden! I haven’t resorted yet to jumping the fence as I’m sure my immediate neighbours think I’m a loony with a camera anyway! Other times, I’ve been so close when I see one land near me and I rush over, set up the shot, finger hovering over the shutter, thinking this could be an “award winning one” when the butterfly flies off just as you’ve pressed the shutter - another blurry effort to delete. I have had a few recent successes which are here.

l to r: Lemon Migrant & Plumbago Blue Butterflies

l to r: Tiger Moth & Euproctis lucifuga (small golden yellow moth with feathery antennae, no common name)