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PEACOCK BUTTERFLY

A peacock butterfly basking in late Autumn sunshine. This butterfly usually goes into hibernation in September and spends the winter in a location where they can find shelter and darkness.

You really do need to click on the photo to enlarge, to discover how perfectly beautiful this butterfly really is.

A butterfly lights beside us, like a sunbeam, and for a brief moment its glory and beauty belong to our world, but then it flies on again, and although we wish it could have stayed, we are so thankful to have seen it at all - author unknown.

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FEEDING THE BIRDS

Over this weekend the RSPB are holding events all over the country to celebrate the wonderful birds around us, and all nature as a whole - Feed The Birds Day. Unfortunately I won't have the time to attend an event, but tomorrow I shall make sure to fill up the bird feeders around my garden and to replenish them regularly over the cold and wet winter months ahead.

Not all birds will feed from a feeder, so don't forget to leave some food on the ground too. Blackbirds love to come down for sultanas etc and robins love to feed on cake crumbs or if they are very lucky, enjoy a mealworm or two! Just watch out for the starlings, they have a habit of appearing from nowhere and eating everything in sight, and then leaving their deposits everywhere!

I would love to hear what you feed your birds, and which birds visit you in your garden or on your allotment?

A month or so back, Michelle at Veg Plotting opened up her virtual garden for charity to raise money for Water Aid. I left a donation and was lucky enough to be picked out at random to win the lovely birdbook, which I have photographed above. Thanks Michelle. There is still time to visit, the garden's opening times have been extended, quite unusual considering the clocks are going back this weekend! The fundraising target of £1,000 has been reached, but has been reset to £1,300, which could pay for a hand-dug well and handpump to serve 150-200 people in Ghana. If you haven't already done so, you may like to spend some time in VP's Open Garden.