Bees, Red admiral and Comma in Sizergh Gardens

Red admiral on ivy flowers

 Sizergh Castle vegetable garden is a work of art and we may sample its produce in the cafe.  Between  vegetable garden and  orchard are bee hives amidst summer flowers gone to seed.  Today,  there's a rich source of nectar in late-flowering ivy masking the orchard wall and the bees love it. So do butterflies.  The ivy-flowers are alive with pollinators and  we stand with the sun on our backs watching bees and butterflies, shedding garments because it's so warm.  The high wall is hidden in thick-flowering ivy and amongst the dark green leaves there are Red admirals and  glimmers of red-   an autumn leaf or a butterfly with  wings closed? I puzzle over what seems to be a Green-veined white, or a sun-blazed leaf.  Discovery is infinite and that's how I like it.

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A fence protects the bee-hives and keeps us at a distance from the lively scene within the flowering ivy.  I know the species likely to show on a warm October morning but there's an elusive butterfly that I glimpse briefly. My camera captures what I scarcely make-out at the time and I  search the ivy later whilst editing images.  So here it is, a Comma.  A single Comma. 
Ivy flowers about the walled gardens at Sizergh but its this south-facing wall behind the bee-hives which attracts so many pollinators.  Walking back to Helsington Church, we find more Red admirals upon pungent ivy flowers and this time I can come close enough to see the proboscis deep amongst the florets in search of nectar.

The Comma is a striking butterfly, upper wings richly coloured whilst under-wings and ragged profile give it a rather sinister appearance.  I search my photographic archive for Commas past.  Last summer,  26th July 2021, I photographed SIlver Washed Fritilaryy and Comma nectaring on hemp agrimony. 

The SIzergh Comma, this sole comma, is a subtlety. 
On 19th September 2016  I came upon a Comma on a ripe blackberry and I spent a long while in a close-encounter, contemplating  butterfly  and  bramble bush.  I was struck by the fragility of the butterfly and sharp thorns on  bramble stems  that might tear its wings.   What a contrast between the bright upper wings and the sinister profile the butterfly can make in silhouette,   that jagged edge and the disturbing white eye.  Fragile or bold and fearsome?
On sunny days  a Comma will search for nectar and rotting fruit, prior to hibernation.  Cryptic colouring enables the Comma to conceal itself amongst dead leaves.   My Sizergh images had me searching that curtain of ivy to distinguish red leaf from butterfly.  

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta, a name to conjure with.   The Red Admiral is widespread in the UK.  I've known this beautiful butterfly from childhood but had not known of the annual migration from North Africa with females laying eggs in spring  so that fresh butterflies  are on the wing  from July into October when I often find them nectaring on flowering ivy.  Ivy for overwintering - for some Red admiral are said to hibernate in the south of England. 
Ivy for over-wintering, and for roosting.  This fair October day at Sizergh was followed by days of heavy showers when the butterfly will roost in  ivy to emerge when the sun reappears.
Butterflies may hibernate: in a garden shed, in ivy, in tree-bark, in a bramble bush, down a rabbit hole.  Five species  hibernate in adult form: Red admiral, Comma, Brimstone,  Small tortoiseshell, Peacock. Other species overwinter as pupae, like the SIlver Washed Fritillary that hibernates in tree-bark.  

The National Trust has an item on how to spot hibernating butterflies. 

                            https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/how-to-spot-hibernatin…