Tag: butterflies

Categories
life natural world

Intermission 6

The humble butterfly bush…….some days there is nothing to see, but then the flowers are overrun

nothing and then the sun comes out the wind drops and the humidity is just right

The humble yet very large weed called buddleia has a redeeming feature. Butterflies love it’s nectar rich flower heads.

The flower heads are actually dozens of flowers each with a nectar store.

This means the butterflies can camp on a single plant and get a lot of nectar for less effort.

The beautiful almost luminous blue scallop edge markings make this butterfly a welcome visitor
Many buddleia are purple or white and with very large conical flowerheads whereas our bush has smaller globes of yellow.

With a cooler Autumn fast approaching this is probably the last of my butterfly blogs for 2020. I will miss them and this year has been only good at times. I look forward to 2021 and perhaps a golden year for butterflies.

Categories
life natural world

Intermission 4

In July the Buddleia start to really blossom and it is no coincidence it is known as the butterfly bush. The butterflies flock to its nectar rich flowers which are so prolific. It happily grows in very thin soil so it is often seen as an invasive albeit pretty weed that grows into small bushy trees though! Of course weeds are a rich source of nutrients for our butterflies.

two small tortoiseshells enjoying some late evening sun
Some butterflies like this red admiral get more attention because of their colour.
This little orange/brown butterfly proved very elusive and just would not settle even for a close up! so this is a long shot….It is called the gatekeeper because it inhabits hedgerows and is seen by humans by the field gate! A proper flutterby!
This white butterfly was more accommodating – a nice example of the “small white”