Very exciting, this living in the country. All day long the house martins swoop about catching invisible things - or just playing - I can't tell which. And then at dusk there's a little pause before a bat takes over the bug patrol. It loops around and around the barn, so close to the windows it almost looks like it's inside instead of outside. Then of course last night it took me a moment to realise that it *was* actually inside, circling silently around my living room.

Even though I'm very fond of bats I can see why they make people nervous. In a confined space you think they must bang into you sooner or later. So I opened the tallett doors wide to let it out and then crouch-walked to get my camera. Sadly the one picture I took didn't contain a bat and seemed to scare it off (or maybe vapourise it - I didn't see it go). But next time I'll be braver; it flew thirty or forty times round the room and up and downstairs a couple of times and didn't bang into me once. And between them the bat and the martins are doing a terrific job. I have the doors and windows open whenever I can, and nothing has bitten me yet - and I'm someone who gets bitten by every passing wingéd bug-critter on the market. So, no pictures of bats or martins (next time perhaps); instead a picture of one of the many butterflies here. Click on the little picture to see it in all its saturated vibrancy.

I know at least six people read this blog and not all of them are brusque, unsentimental, business-only types, so just in case anyone is interested, I have a number of photogenic creatures living near me: would anyone like me to go out and try to get a good a photo of one? Your choices are: the bat, shetland ponies, baby shetland ponies, a buzzard, martins and swifts and swallows, more butterflies, scads of rabbits, a very white cat called Pickle.