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.

2 comments:

  1. 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 ...

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  2. You 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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