The best way to learn about wild flora and fauna is to have someone point things out to you.
That is the way I learnt about wildflowers. The mother of one of my friends in the village where I was brought up was extremely knowledgeable and took me and my friend for long walks and helped us identify everything we saw. We were doing a wildflower diary as a biology project at the time. My friend got first prize for the project and I got second. I was furious at the time, but it was of course only right.
Unfortunately I’ve never had anyone to help me with birds or butterflies, and I struggle because what I see never looks like the pictures in the books and because the darned creatures move too much.
Here is a little blue butterfly which I see quite a lot of. This morning I managed to capture it on camera and, after a lot of perusal of my books, I have decided that it is the Common Blue.
If you know better, I’d love to hear from you
