Far From the Madding Crowd: July 2012

Thursday, 19 July 2012

Dark Green Fritillary butterfly

Dark Green Fritillary butterfly, a photo by Linda Yarrow on Flickr.

At long last, a dryer day today with some sunshine. Went for a walk at Martin Down nature reserve, saw several species of butterflies; Comma, Dark Green Fritillary, Silver Washed Fritillary, Red Admiral, Painted Lady. Also saw several Scarlet Tiger moths, lovely to watch when they are flying around. Martin Down is a great place, it has both woodland and chalk grassland, with a wide variety of plants and wildflowers to support several species of butterflies including the White Admiral.

My Blog

I have taken the title of my blog from Thomas Hardy's fourth novel 'Far From the Madding Crowd' which he wrote in 1874. He took his title from Thomas Gray's poem 'Elegy written in a Country Churchyard' completed in 1750. Thomas Hardy was born in Dorset where he lived for most of his life and where he based the stories in his novels. The word 'madding' means frenzied and there is a sense of freedom I get being out in the countryside and being close to nature away from the frenzied atmosphere of the towns and cities. I live in Dorset and like Thomas Hardy, it is where I have lived for most of my life, my blog is mostly about nature in Dorset. I am a member of the Dorset Wildlife Trust. I will include my garden and anything of interest about the natural world in Britain.