A Peacock

A Peacock butterfly

No, this is not a Peacock bird, it's a Peacock butterfly, a species native to the UK. I spotted it recently feeding on nectar from fragrant flowers in a garden in Fife, Scotland.

It was interesting to see a Peacock so far north. The butterfly gets its name from the eye-spots, similar to those on the tail of the bird. The butterfly probably has these spots because they increase the survival rate of the adults by scaring away predators or making them think this is an animal altogether too large to eat.

Maybe a predator would even think there are two animals as the Peacock has four 'eyes'!

Butterflies have been in very short supply this summer because of the wet summer last year. But numbers are increasing in this year's dry and warm weather. Good for the butterflies.

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)

A plant to remember by

Prunella grandiflora

I bought this plant at Cragside, a large house in Northumberland once the home of a famous engineer, Lord Armstrong.

We spent a while at Cragside on 17th August as we drove back south after a week in Fife with my daughters and their families.

Prunella grandiflora (Large Self-heal) likes moist conditions in partial shade and I've planted it next to our summerhouse where it will only receive late evening sunshine.

This one is a white-flowered cultivar and should be popular with bumblebees. I'm looking forward to seeing how well it grows.

It's good to collect plants from places I've been. The Self-heal will remind me of two visits to Cragside, one just recently and the first back in the mid 1980s.

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)

Fish and chips

Yummy fish and chips

Fish and chips is usually good, but tonight we had fish and chips that was utterly spectacular. We are on our way north for a week with the family and we stopped at Durham for the evening before driving to our motel in nearby South Shields.

We walked the city centre streets of Durham, visited Palace Green and the Cathedral, and had a look at the Lindisfarne Gospels exhibit (it's oustanding, by the way).

Then we stopped at Bells Restaurant for fish and chips. They were the best ever! Really delicious, beautifully cooked, nicely presented on fish-shaped plates, with friendly service thrown in for good measure. I thought I should share the photo.

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)

Hedge trimming

Belated hedge trimming

Keeping the world in order is a massive undertaking. If I wasn't here to manage my little part of it, it would manage itself - but probably not to my liking!

This photo of my garden hedge illustrates the problem perfectly. On the right is the part I've just trimmed. On the left is the part that I have still to do.

You wouldn't believe it, but earlier in the year it was all trimmed. However, hedges have a habit of growing and growing, and this year's warmth and rainfall has provided perfect growing conditions.

If only someone would breed a hedging plant that would grow to a designated height and width and would then just stop. That would be perfect.

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)