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Just another quick post to share some of the pictures I took whilst on holiday in Norfolk. This post has actually been written in April 2014, but has been published for August 2013, when the holiday actually was.
The flower below, discovered on a roadside verge on a walk is Centranthus ruber (Red valerian). I think I have the ID right here, although this particular plant must have been a young one because most of the descriptions and pictures I can find online seem to suggest that these flowers grow larger, with more flower heads than the one we found. Must thank the always useful Collins Flower Guide for help on this one.
Common blue butterfly at Cley Marshes on the north Norfolk coast (sadly the location where that US air force helicopter crashed earlier this year, killing 4 people).
And finally, a few pictures taken from the kitchen window of the cottage we were staying in. A small brown looking bird was foraging through the climbing plants on the trellis of the back garden. Wasn't convinced on the ID at first but eventually came to the conclusion that it was a juvenile whitethroat. Just strange to see one so close to the house we were staying. Probably the best view of a whitethroat I will ever get. Photos are just record shots really but you can clearly tell what the species is.
Actually quite disappointed I don't have more photos from this holiday. Norfolk's such a fantastic part of the world, and somewhere I've always enjoyed going on holiday to. Thanks for reading.
The butterflies and bees really seem to be doing well in our garden this year. I have seen plenty of them, and a couple of new varieties recently. Last week, I luckily spotted a small butterfly in the garden from the house. I went outside to find that it was a Common Blue, one that we haven't seen in our garden before...
Also seen around was the Gatekeeper butterfly, which we see most years (pictured below). Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo of it with its wings open.
Also seen were Large White and Red Admiral. Large White butterflies appear to be everywhere at the moment. Both butterflies pictured above particularly liked the Marjoram flowers. However, other flowers seem to be appearing everywhere (most of which were not planted by us). I took photos of some of them and they are below. The first photo shows a thistle flower which seems to be particularly popular with the bees.
I'm not sure what the flower in the photo below is but it really looked brilliant in the afternoon sun. In the background, you can see the red-orange flowers of the bean plants. 
The Veronica plant seems to be very healthy at the moment.
And finally, a quick note on the birds. The feeders have been very busy recently, especially with the tits and sparrows. Today, I saw 10 sparrows feeding on the lawn, which is the most we have ever seen in our garden. Also, Blue, Great, Long-tailed and Coal Tits have been seen frantically feeding. Maybe they are stocking up ready for when they moult? I will leave you with a photo of a pair of Blue Tits which were acrobatically feeding at the end of the garden.
Sunny or not, have a great week :)
