2 sights for sore eyes

Occasionally you see something that delights the ole spirit. In the last week, I saw 2. The first occasion was at midday during the week when I spotted a muntjac (my first) near the heap for grassnakes. Funny dog, I thought and the way it moved its tail was most odd. I know other members have seen one or even 2 before but they had always escaped me. I was amazed it had ventured so far into the reserve and think it's not only foxes which are becoming less fearful. My second impressive sight was a few days later,when I was doing my regular butterfly monitoring. I came across at least 10 gatekeepers, flying in a group but as you can see from the photo doing their own thing. (It was impossible to get all 10 in a photo as I had to get quite closeup for them to be visible.) It was also pretty impossible to count them, as you can probably imagine - worse than counting sheep! That day I also spotted the first water lily I've seen on the little pond and saw a little frog and heard another croaking away happily. The photo below was the best I could do without falling in ......