A Final Flutter for 2020.

 The final day of 2020 was pretty icy with the hardest frost so far of the Winter. However, the sun was shining brightly and with a gentle North wind I thought there was an outside chance of a final butterfly of the year, after all, the conditions were very similar to January 1st 2019 when I saw a Peacock in the same area I was going to now.

On the mile long walk the air was pretty bitter and the ground was frozen. On arrival on the South facing slope it was suddenly warm with the sun beaming down. A quick look produced a Wall Brown larva feeding in the sunshine. Moments later a large butterfly flew past me and settled 20 feet away. It was either a Red Admiral or a Peacock. I gradually moved to a position where I had a clear view and saw it was indeed a Peacock. The butterfly then flew again but landed in a much better position allowing a few photos.

A December 31st Peacock.

A little while later on a valley that was still sheltered from the sunshine the ground was still white, as it was in the garden for the rest of the day.

Frosty leaves.

A lovely Brown Hare was also seen from a distance bringing a rewarding final walk of 2020 to a close.