Summer at last.

Sunshine creates such lovely shadows.   I looked down and saw this lovely pattern made by the trellis and foliage growing on it.

Then I noticed this little lacey shadow on one of the leaves in the pond.   Something has been busy eating all those little holes.

While I was by the pond I kept seeing frogs heads peeping out of the duckweed at me but as soon as I moved the camera to focus it they disappeared beneath the surface.   I did catch sight of this one lurking among the plants and there were several others too well concealed to get a clear picture.  I didn't realise they were so camera shy.

However, this little lady was not shy at all and spent several minutes so close that I could have bent down and touched her.   She just spread her tail and wings out on the warm stones and sunbathed.

She is obviously quite young as her baby downy feathers are still clearly visible and she has not yet learned to be wary of humans.   She looked straight into the camera as if she was a professional model asking which pose she should strike.   She retreated into the shade every so often but came back four or five times for more sunbathing.

The buddleiah is in full bloom but still waiting for the butterflies.   They were in very short supply last year too.

If this warm weather stays with us these might ripen for me, otherwise there's going to be a copious amount of green tomato chutney this year.