A new week – and a new theme. I have decided to share photos of butterflies this week, although I will find it hard to choose just seven out of the hundreds I have taken over the past fifteen years. Butterflies must be one of the most beautiful and best-loved group of insects. So perhaps I had better stick to the UK and Europe this week!

Although it is obviously easier to photograph butterflies sitting on flowers to drink nectar or on some surface to sunbathe, I love the challenge of trying to capture them in flight which can take an hour or more and is rarely a success!

This Painted Lady was on our lawn early one morning – perhaps drinking the last drops of dew? The under surface of the wings are always different from the upper surface and are often not quite so beautiful.

The Painted Lady is not a premanent resident in the UK, but migrates here in the spring from North Africa. It can fly up to 100 miles in a day and at speeds of up to 30 mph! It is the most widely distributed butterfly in the world, found on every continent except Australasia.