Being confined to home and garden (except for a rare trip or two outside) is often a blessing in disguise.

Frequently it yields some marvellous surprises.

One, for example, appeared last week when I caught sight of two interesting day-flying Lepidoptera (moth and butterfly!).

This was the first small heath butterfly of the year, probably a lone male of a species given the ponderous scientific name of Coenonympha pamphilus, after a son (one of 50!) of the fabled Aegyptus! Interestingly 'Pamphirus' was a personal name much used by the Romans.

It means "loved by all," though why this is attached to the rather drab little heath I do not know.

When found, the butterfly was almost invisible, perched on a huge but fading foxglove, small drab-coloured wings folded together and tight-shut.

More dramatic altogether - no more than a few yards away - was a day-loving moth; one of bold, bright colour flaunted under the very beaks of hunting, noisy sparrow and hungry young starling, quarrelsome and nervous in patchy, changing plumage.

The moth blundered along in surprisingly clumsy fluttering flight, the wings a glorious pattern of black, bright yellow and stark white visible from yards away.

No adult bird will touch it, and any clumsy immature attempting seizure, must soon let go.

This beautiful insect is cram-jam full of deadly, fiery-tasting poison, the merest taste of any such tissue burns even the toughest gape or tongue of any ignorant passerine brash enough to seize the insect.

Yet the caterpillars of Abraxus grossularius feed mainly on the foliage of berried fruit such as red and black currants, or gooseberries.

Most gardeners detest this lovely Lepidopteran of the curious name.

'Abraxas' is a word coined by a 2nd century AD Egyptian philosopher to express the number 365 - the days in the year.

It became a favourite inscription carved on charm stones hung about the neck.

Eventually it gave rise to the conjuror's favourite word 'Abracadabra'! 'Grossularias' - also part of the title is much more mundane.

It belongs to the former name of the garden gooseberry, Ribes grossularia - one of the food plants much favoured by the caterpillars.

Make no mistake - all four stages of this species (egg, larva, adult insect and chrysalis) contain strong deterrents to any avian predator.

They are rich in histamines poisonous to any predator.

The caterpillar may feed without harm or deleterious effect on plant tissue as deadly as that of the spindle tree - full of

cardiac glycosides - heart-stopping poisons to

much animal life big or small.

Other phenomena easily observed in or from the garden include the twice-daily flight of feral Canada geese.

It happens first thing in the morning - but surprisingly when the sun is then well up, not just beginning to climb.

Then, several skeins of very noisy, trumpeting Canadas fly overhead bound for feeding ground and daytime residence on or about a small tarn barely a mile away.

Just before dusk, similar skeins of these birds fly in the reverse direction, no doubt bound for a safer roost off to the southwest.

Not to the seaside, I believe, for these handsome birds are lovers of fresh rather than salt water, but to more inland fresh water, a larger spread than the daytime feeding area and one which offers greater safety as a roost during the night hours.

I believe they are grossly over-fed on their daytime 'hustings', for many local folk add to their normal grassy diet with chunks of stale bread.

Such folk halting by the poolside are seen immediately, the large birds soon homing in on them.

Today, I saw but three other geese here.

They were the comparatively more timid grey lags almost overwhelmed by the others.

Where do all these geese -or any, for that matter - go to grow the new flight feathers each year? At this time, they must choose a safe haven, for they are all flightless until the new primaries appear.

To date, I have not discovered this site.

The feeding pond is far too small for the Canadas at this time - too small and too vulnerable - even though their natural enemies here are few and far between.