A quiet moment

You know that you sometimes get one of those rare moments when by chance you get close to nature? For instance if you're in a wood and catch sight of deer, and if you're very quiet you can watch them graze because they haven't seen you?

On Friday I had one of those moments.
A little upstream from Willsbridge next to Siston Brook I was watching a comma butterfly feeding off blackberries. It had seen my movement as I approached and closed its wings as a precautionary measure; the underside of an autumn comma's wings are dark and look very like a dead leaf, giving it excellent camoulflage. Very useful for the months to come when it hibernates through the winter. I knew that if I was patient and kept still, it would open its wings again to catch the warmth from the sun, allowing me to take a photo of it.

While I was waiting, a flock of longtailed tits flew into the hawthorn tree right above and in front of me, with one of them offering a perfect chance for a photo by sitting where there was a gap in the tree foliage.

These delightful birds are tiny, and I must have been less than six feet away from this individual, but I was still able to run off several shots before it got bored and flew away.

Then I looked back at the comma, and it had opened its wings. Perfect!