A - Z Challenge 2015 - Butterflies 'T''

T - Tortoiseshell butterflies.

Of the two Tortoiseshell butterflies  it's the Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urtica) that is the most common and found throughout the British Isles,

It's one of the first butterflies to be seen each summer. We saw the first one this year on 5th April.  The buddleia is a favourite plant.

Two Small Tortoiseshell Butterflies in our garden

Small Tortoiseshell

Its orange colour with brown, black, yellow and blue markings are unmistakable.

It will quite happily share a flower with a bumblebee.

From the underside there is no hint of its colourful appearance.

The Large Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis polychlorox) is similar in appearance but is usually only seen in Suffolk and north Essex. There is little chance of my getting to photograph one.

Love is like a butterfly
As soft and gentle as a sigh
The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings
Love makes your heart feel strange inside
It flutters like soft wings in flight
Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing

I feel it when you're with me
It happens when you kiss me
That rare and gentle feeling that I feel inside
Your touch is soft and gentle
Your kiss is warm and tender
Whenever I am with you I think of butterflies

Love is like a butterfly
The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings
Love makes your heart feel strange inside
It flutters like soft wings in flight
Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing

Your laughter brings me sunshine
Every day is spring time
And I am only happy when you are by my side

Shooting strangers from afar - Thematic Photography

If you live in a village as small as mine it's often difficult to find a stranger at all. However just when I was about to give up I came across an ideal opportunity.

A stranger getting directions from a stranger

I thought it rather odd to see a car in this country lane that leads to nowhere but some farms. When I checked the car's registration I found that it had originated over 250 miles away, in Chelmsford, Essex.

I guess the stranger just wandered into my next shot of a fire practice on the River Tees.

Fire practice near the Infinity Bridge, Stockton-on-Tees

We went to watch our grandson in a surfing contest at Saltburn last October. There were strangers by the score - 

On the pier

and - 

On the beach

Even two of the surfers were strangers to me.

Shame the surf was so poor.

For more strangers unaware they are in the camera's eye head over to Carmi's Thematic-Photographic-306.