We’d had a few storms over the previous couple of days. They had brought the wind with them. The sky was still summer blue and the sun shone just as bright but some of the warmth of preceding weeks heat wave had been lost.

The flowers in the meadow had taken a battering. Broken stems and blooms laying limp in the grass. The grass itself had not fared much better, great swathes flattened.

Although the grass was dry, the soil underfoot was still damp from previous nights rain. The butterflies were in abundance though.

Small Tortoiseshell

The small Tortoiseshells were warming in the sunshine

Speckled Wood

while several Speckled Wood made their way along the hedgerow.

We strolled on, the dog and I, making our way to the far end of the meadow and into the woods on the far side. The Long Tailed tits were there to greet us, chattering away they criss-crossed between the branches of the tallest trees. Their numbers had been swelled by the addition of all this years juveniles which had now fledged.