Friday, 18 July 2008

Adam Buddle's Legacy

One good thing about London - or indeed any town - at this time of year is that the Buddleia is in flower everywhere. Growing in profusion on every patch of waste ground, sprouting out of every crack in the concrete, bursting out of the walls of buildings, there's no stopping the Buddleia Davidii - and who would wish to? The flowers are beautiful in shape and colour, fragrant and nectar-laden and, of course, they attract the butterflies. Good to see two small tortoiseshells in that picture. This species, which used to be the commonest of our garden butterflies and the one you could always count on seeing on a buddleia spray, is fast becoming a rarity , in the London area at least (it seems the larvae are being parasitised). I haven't seen one all year. This is almost fitting - the tortoiseshell always seemed rather too beautiful to be so common - but it is sad.
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5 comments:

  1. Anonymous18 July 2008 at 15:00

    Not only butterflies....I was sitting out back yesterday putting together a grocery list when a hummingbird buzzed over to the buddleia and made several dips into the white buds. He didn't stay too long (maybe a minute), but he seemed to be getting something out of there. Do you get hummingbirds, Nige? And what do they like the best in terms of plants (my nabes have feeders for them, but I like just planting something they'd go for)?

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  2. Uncle Dick Madeley18 July 2008 at 15:19

    Funny enough, we have a few hummingbirds in our village. They all go quack and swim in the village pond. Not sure what type of hummingbird they are though. I'll try to find out.

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  3. Sophie King18 July 2008 at 15:26

    It's too cold for humming birds here, Susan. But we do get these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macroglossum_stellatarum

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  4. Nige18 July 2008 at 16:10

    Ha! Just what I was going to mention Sophie. Lovely little critters those. And Dick you'd best consult Oddie on that one, its got me stumped...

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  5. Uncle Dick Madeley18 July 2008 at 20:35

    Looking back on my comment, Nige, I realise that I do lower the tone of your blog. I promise to make amends by being serious from now on.

    PS. Oddie has a theory that it might be a duck.

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