Nature at its Best..

Sue, this a lovely blog with so many Butterflies and Dragonflies, smashing photos. I think the butterfly on your wall is a Speckled Wood. I have seen very few Butterflies down here this year ... such a shame.

A joy to see these lovely pictures. Like Shirley we haven't seen butterflies in large numbers at all this year. I miss them.

Stunning photos Sue, lovely to see 🙂.

I recently had a train ride to York, and I was amazed to see literally clouds of butterflies on every buddleia along the route. I have never seen so many! Your photos are gorgeous, especially the close-up of the dragon fly. :)

I think its a Speckled Wood Butterfly. :) https://naturescalendar.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2018/how-to-identify-butterflies-a-quick-guide/

Wow! Fantastic photography Lincslass! Beautifully captured!

Your garden is truly a nature reserve, lovely photos.

The dragonfly may be a Common Darter

Fourth from the bottom is a Comma, seventh up is a Gatekeeeper. what a wonderful selection - you are so lucky!

Fantastic pictures & lots of vibrant color in your garden

We've had a few flutter through, mainly Common Blue and Cabbage White with the odd Brimstone and a huge dragonfly visited the pond one day last week, but nothing as colourful as these. The only buddleia locally is an unkempt, straggly one with few flowers but many of the plants I grow are recommended as attractive to insects .... maybe just not so much this year ;-)

Thankyou all, we have two Buddliea's here in the garden, one is a lot darker than the other the bees and butterflies swarm around the lighter of the two, the bees also like the Linaria, the thing is my neighbours garden hasn't been touched for over a year and has a bed of stinging nettles right near our fence, perhaps that has made a difference, they say one should grow a patch of nettles to encourage butterflies, not sure that I would want a patch here though....

Really really good photos - normally they flutter too much but you've obviously trained them to 'sit!' - ha!

We saw a Brimstone Moth which again was a first, tons of bees, all different kinds, a Painted Lady and what looked like a million ants on our Silver Birch tree yesterday.

Keep planting the right plants and we'll get them back every year.

How lovely to see so may varieties ...

Peacocks are my favourite butterfly - the one you're not sure of looks exactly like a Comma, except its pale coloured - they're usually orangy brown, but the markings are correct for a Comma. Unless you mean the darker coloured one, which is most likely a Speckled Wood... lovely lot of butterflies, all I've seen is a common blue and cabbage whites, though the gardener told me he'd seen a Red Admiral last week here...

I had about 7 on my buddleja the other day, it was on the news you can submit your numbers on The Big Butterfly Count online, there's a mass of painted lady apparently that only happens every 10 years 😀

Lovely blog, Lincslass! Lots of lovely photos of butterflies & Dragonflies! I've seen few butterflies around here this year a few Cabbage Whites & a few Peacocks & Tortoiseshells & a few small ones I was unable to id. Haven't had any visit our balcony this year - at least when I've been out there!

I think I may have seen a few more bees this year than last but they are not nearly as common on the balcony as other years. Though in general I have seen more bees this year than in the past several years.

Lovely pics Lincs, when my daughter got married 21 years ago it was almost impossible to see buddleja flowers as each was covered in so many butterflies, gradually butterflies have disappeared from my area, only seen about 10 all summer. I do have loads of bees though. They were particularly fond of the foxgloves and musk mallows here. Hardly any ladybirds, but some wasps. Not many hoverflies and unfortunately millions of ants! I have also seen two dragonflies near my pond:-)

Until this summer we only ever saw an odd one, this year has been amazing for the amount we have been seeing, so many different ones also, same with the ladybirds and bees, even have ants in the garden again this year, not as many as in the past but they have returned, has to be a good sign I think..
I was a bit annoyed as I tried to submit my findings on the butterfly count and it would not let me, isn't that typical, tried on three different servers to no avail..

Ba you would laugh, I had to shut myself indoors last week as I spotted a couple of big hornets flying around above my ponds, they absolutely frighten me to death, was mad afterwards as I never even got a photo through the window..

Eek hornets, they kill bees too I think. Don't think I have seen one, don't think I'd like to either. As you seem so pleased to see ants back in your garden I thought I could send you some of mine? Perhaps you could send me some ladybirds in return? :-))