I know, I know - enough with the butterflies already. But what's a fellow to do? I went for a walk on Box Hill earlier today and I saw not one, not two, but three of these beauties. It's the Dark Green Fritillary - almost as spectacular as the Silver-Washed, and every bit as beautiful, but a little smaller and favouring open land. The ones I saw today were on flowery downland, on the dip slope of the hill, flying strongly (as they do) and hard to follow, so I never quite managed a close-up look. But, talking of flowers, I did have the pleasure of taking a long close look at a Bee Orchid - and to feel the furry body of the 'bee'. Why is the flower formed in this strange simulacrum of a bumble bee? There's an obvious answer: to attract bumble bees to attempt to mate with the decoy bee and thereby pollinate the flower. But in Britain this has never been observed, and the flower is self-pollinating. So the real answer is rather the one that fits so many cases: No one knows. When it comes to orchids - and butterflies - nature seems to be exuberantly playful.
Monday, 22 June 2009
Box Hill Again...
I know, I know - enough with the butterflies already. But what's a fellow to do? I went for a walk on Box Hill earlier today and I saw not one, not two, but three of these beauties. It's the Dark Green Fritillary - almost as spectacular as the Silver-Washed, and every bit as beautiful, but a little smaller and favouring open land. The ones I saw today were on flowery downland, on the dip slope of the hill, flying strongly (as they do) and hard to follow, so I never quite managed a close-up look. But, talking of flowers, I did have the pleasure of taking a long close look at a Bee Orchid - and to feel the furry body of the 'bee'. Why is the flower formed in this strange simulacrum of a bumble bee? There's an obvious answer: to attract bumble bees to attempt to mate with the decoy bee and thereby pollinate the flower. But in Britain this has never been observed, and the flower is self-pollinating. So the real answer is rather the one that fits so many cases: No one knows. When it comes to orchids - and butterflies - nature seems to be exuberantly playful.
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No such thing as too many butterflies.
ReplyDelete'Ardest game in the world, the butterfly game.
ReplyDeletePeter Laufer has written of The Dangerous World of Butterflies.
ReplyDeleteConsider this: Most of us are understandably mesmerized by butterflies and moths (though some farmers would tell you that some of the beautiful insects come with a hefty price), but we perhaps are indifferent to or repulsed by their antecedents: caterpillars (and those are the foliage eating price that the farmers do not appreciate). I suppose this means we should either be quite appreciative of or more knowledgeable about metamorphosis among insects in Nature. By extension, we should perhaps give more thought to all forms of human beings and their metamorphoses. Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteT is right. Never too many butterflies.
ReplyDeleteWhy are those called "green" fritillaries when they're orange? Are their caterpillars green? I must improve my knowledge of these lovely creatures.
ReplyDelete