Back to Nature : Christine Widdall

We’ve just come to the end of a very long hot spell, with temperatures reaching 29-30 degrees every day. Moorland fires have dominated the headlines and we could see the rapidly spreading Saddleworth fires on Alphin and Noonsun Hills from our garden…a horrific sight…it spread so fast. Hopefully now the worst has passed and some rain today will help to reduce the risk of further flare ups, though we are told that the fire burns deep under the peat and that it will take regular heavy rain to, at last, put the fires out.

Moors fire from our garden:

For the last couple of weeks, for various reasons, my trips to photograph Saddleworth’s miniature wildlife have been curtailed, but I have found a few opportunities to snap a few insects, most of them in the garden. It’s long time since I managed to photograph a white butterfly…they do seem to only land for a few seconds before they are on the wing again, but they like our lavender patch. Skippers and ringlets have visited our garden…and bees have been captured at Brownhills nature garden in the village. Here are a few of my favourites from the last week.