Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Good News
Such as it is, the deceptively cool British Warm Spell of recent years is potentially very good news for butterflies - as is proved by this heartening story. The doughty little Duke of Burgundy (not a Fritillary, by the way, but our only Metalmark butterfly), just barely clinging on in this country on by its four tiny legs (the other two are vestigial), has managed a second, late-summer brood again. As the Duke is so fussy about its habitat - its food plant, the cowslip, must be growing to just the right height, in just the right combination of sunshine, warmth and shelter - this is no mean achievement, and might mark the beginning of a slow comeback. As the man says, 'We are forever underestimating butterflies'. And the rest of nature, come to that.
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That looks a very fine critter. I'm slowly getting into butterflies as a result of following this blog. Results so far - in addition to "garden" kinds like peacock and painted lady - are a comma, speckled wood and a meadow brown all within ten minutes of my home. Plus several other, different ones but I've been unable to get close enough to identify them. Yet ...
ReplyDeleteYou will, you will, Mark - Get yourself a guide to the British butterflies (there are only 60-something), not Britain and Europe, that's too confusing. You'll soon be well away...
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