Apples Hazelnuts, Plump Plums and Butterflies

It was lunchtime, so I thought I’d go for a leisurely jog about the area to see how the apples and Hazelnuts were ripening up.

It didn’t take long before I saw the tell-tale clue of squirrel snacking; they had been nibbling away at the green hazelnuts, while the shells were still soft.

I also picked up a few brown shelled nuts, a sure sign that fresh ripe nuts are only a week or so away and we still have some left from our last year’s mammoth horde.

When I reached the apple trees, some looked a little battered by the wettest Summer on record for 100 years. Last night was also the coldest August night on record; not ideal conditions for fruit.

although some trees have not fared well, other apples looked quite fine and a few were already dropping the odd windfall fruit.

I continued further along my route and discovered a couple of yellow/orange plum trees by the roadside and then turned into some woodland.

In the dappled shade my eye was caught by a pair of playful butterflies. I tracked their fluttering forms, hoping to catch a nice photo and when the alighted on a small tree I seized the opportunity to get closer.

It was only as I closed, stealthily, on my intended prey that I realised that they had settled on a plum tree.

They had come to have a quick snack of fresh plum juice. The plums were gigantic and succulent, so I thought that I might as well have a couple too, while I was there…