Aristocrats, a Blue and Poison?

My first Blue, at Crickley hill

Comma, not a typing error

Peacock, they have finally appeared

All this good weather has been great for butterflies and apart from Fritillaries I have seen many, consisting  of several species! So throughout my regular haunts, covering Crickley Hill, Leckhampton Hill and Sherborne estate, my finds include: Skippers {large &small}, Red admiral, Tortoiseshell, Painted lady, Peacock {late arrival}, Marble White, Gate Keeper, Meadow Brown, Whites {large and small}, Brimstone, Ringlets, Chalkhill Blue and managed to photograph all of them! Not so good over this warm spell has been the re-appearance of Ragwort  , liked by insects, but poisonous to animals.  I have to wonder whether people have forgotten about the nature of this plant especially where livestock/horses have access to it since I don't see much effort [any] to remove it and before it 'seeds'. See this NT Press item for good butterfly locations.

Interesting today at Sherborne, with the temperature at a lowly 21 degrees and  some 'wet' stuff not seen for a while.  The morning was spent at Lodge Park 'forking' up hay previously cut down by Mike with one of my favourite tools. This was interrupted late morning by a call regarding delivery of large pipes and 'accessories' to be used in a large Water Management project on the Sherborne water courses. Our help was needed in unloading the large lorry at the Northfields Barns, ready for use by contractors next Monday. Some heavy work here requiring Mike's tractor and during the heaviest rain shower of the day! All in a good cause since  the river Windrush in the water meadows will have new gravel added to its water beds {good for fish} and new water cachment for livestock created, all good for the water environments and wildlife in general.

The afternoon was again spent up at Lodge Park completing the hay clearance before embarking on Ragwort removal. This work moved in to the actual Parkland which was occupied by a large herd of cattle. Not usually an exciting task but made, in this instance, a lot more interesting by the great variety of butterflies and insects we came across as we first pulled the Ragwort out by its roots before depositing in plastic bags for careful disposal. A worthwhile day out again and sets me up for what I hope is the decisive Ashes test match tomorrow at Old Trafford.