Butterfly heaven

My garden has attracted an array of butterflies, many of which I have never seen before. I went out with the camera today trying to get some photographs.

Although it was a mission to get close to them I managed to get a couple of shots. I love to see them bask in the sun, the colours of their wings are beautiful. I like the different wildlife that visit my garden (well the non-furry kind lol).

Recycling (my new obsession!)

Over the last few months I have been so busy that I have missed a few bin collections, meaning I have been forced to be very discriminative about what goes in the bin until the eagerly waited next collection. So I have been recycling everything- plastics, tins and glass. I am usually good with glass and tins but plastics can get overlooked. I am lucky enough to have a composting bin and now am meticulous with recycling greens.

So why recycle? UK households created 30.5 million tonnes of waste in 2003/04, and only 17% of that was collected for recycling (stats from defra.gov.uk). There has been a lot of publicity geared towards recycling lately but how well has it worked? It is obvious that there is still a lot of waste which could be recycled that ends up in landfill sites.

Not only is recycling an excellent way of saving energy and conserving the environment it can get you becoming healthier, and save you pennies too. For example I don't eat ready made meals, and rarely get takeout to minimise on packaging. Well okay that isn't really my reason- I don't really like either of them and becoming more green has helped me cut both out. Up to 60% of the rubbish that ends up in the dustbin could be recycled, and around half of waste in the average dustbin could be composted. I was surprised to read that £36,000,000 worth of aluminium is thrown away each year.

My current bug bear is the way supermarkets pack everything in plastic, and I notice that most vegetables cost MORE when buying loose rather than in those awful plastic bags. I am now trying to buy as much fresh produce locally as possible. Food tastes far yummier when it is homegrown rather than when flown over from Egypt.

Anyway I have found a really cool site which I must tell you about- remarkable.co.uk.
This site sells fun recycled items that are well-designed and made using only UK recycled materials. The company has got it spot on by showing recycled products can be fun and not dull at all. My favourites are the pencils made from CD cases, they are really cool and if I was going to buy any stationery that is where I would go.

Better late than never.

Every time I go away anywhere I have good intentions of recording it by writing a blog/ diary/ taking photographs. Unfortunately the minute I set foot off the plane everything goes out the window.

A good example is my recent trip to Amsterdam where I have some photographs, funnily enough I am not in any of them. I have a slight contempt for posed grinning photographs in front of landmarks. Why are people so desperate to show other people where they've been? I like to categorise photographs due to my secret OCD-like tendencies. I love to organise things and am an avid list maker. Ask me to do an itinerary and I feel like I have won the lottery. Try to take my picture and I will punch you in the face.

Anyway I digress, here is one of my favourite photographs that I took on my most recent escapade. If you want to see more check out my Flickr photos link. I was astonished at the massive number of push bikes in Amsterdam, but the Dutch have it right with the prices of fuel being hiked regularly. My next holiday will be somewhere hot...