All the lane awash

After the spring drought, we have had several days of regular rain, and not just regular - one shower so torrential that it was almost a 'white out' and a bout of storms, which was very welcome. There is nothing like like a good storm. A few days ago, we watched from my studio window as the thunder cracked overhead (leading to a brief power cut) and the lane outside swiftly became covered in a few inches of rapidly moving silty water.

Dramatic as it looks, once the clouds had passed, the lane was almost back to normal, thanks to the cottage being on a hill and good drainage. After a rather exciting evening, we had just sat down to dinner, when there was a scuffling in the wood burner flue and a muffled thump. We knew what it was at once. Despite a top cover, a starling had managed to get into the chimney. It flew straight to the window and seconds after I took this, was fluffing itself up on the fence, before flying off over the fields.

Butterfly confusion and the Mandela Effect

Have you ever heard of the Mandela Effect’? It’s a bit brain-twisty, but it’s one of my favourite conspiracy theories. Alternate universe kind of thing, worth looking up if you’re interested. Anyhow, last year, I discovered that the butterfly I’d always thought of as a Red Admiral, was actually a Painted Lady and that the Painted Lady was a Red Admiral. And I’d believed this ever since I was old enough to learn butterfly species, so really, most of my life. Or several decades.

How I managed this, as a self proclaimed nature lover,  I really don’t know, and to be honest, it’s so ingrained in me that I still think of these pretties as Red Admirals. Although since posting them to my Instagram feed and proudly declaring them to be Painted Ladies, a kind friend who really is an expert in these things told me (gently) that they were, in fact, Small Tortoiseshells. Anyway, these two butterfly things were happily suckling away on the thyme flowers this morning, and I crept up to quietly capture them in the best possible way. 

As for my life long mis-identification of Red Admirals etc, I am partially convinced that there has been some kind of Mandela Effect thing going on, and once upon a time I was correct in my belief,  before we slipped into what is our present day universe. I am, in a nutshell, slightly confused - but these are not Red Admirals. Or Painted Ladies.