Butterfly bonanza & badgers bounce back

Like the rest of the country we have seen a boost in the butterflies in the garden making the most of the buddleia.

Nothing too earth-shattering but it's been nice to see so much activity - Large Whites, Peacocks, Gatekeepers, Commas, Red Admirals, Small Whites, Speckled Wood and some interesting looking moths which were too elusive to positively identify.

Also joined by an array of bumblebees, Buff-tailed and White-tailed, the return of the Southern Hawker dragonfly and what could have been a Common Hawker.

All this and the return of multiple badgers. On Friday night it was the three of them, but they only had food in the badger box and no peanuts so were not around long as one of them monopolised the box and did not share, although the other two were quite content about this suggesting some sort of pecking order. The alpha was Big Boy and he is clearly the male but the other two have been difficult to pin down as they've been irregular and it is always past 10pm and quite dark when they arrive. All three are much more skittish than the ones which visited last year, even the slightest sudden movement causes them to lift their heads and get ready to run. On Saturday and Sunday it was just two of them and they were quite happy to feed simultaneously from the badger box, obviously deciding there was plenty to share - chicken, gravy, peas, home-grown potatoes and some bread crusts. Saturday saw them have some leftover garlic doughballs which must rank as a favourite because they are the first items foraged and then they flee to the mexican blossom bush to devour in solitude.