A Butterfly Kind of Day

 Late afternoon on Monday ended up being a pretty glorious kind of day, and with the buddleia now out in flower around the town, I thought it might be a nice sort of day to go out and look for butterflies. 

It's an odd sort of thing to do in many folk's eyes, but it gets me out of the house, gets me exercising and is of course a boon to my mental health. 

My greatest fear during lockdown was that we wouldn't be allowed out of our houses at all. 

As it happens, I didn't have to go very far to find my first butterfly, as right outside my door in my little yard, a male gatekeeper was feeding very placidly off the ragwort I have allowed to grow (read - can't be bothered to dig up) and is actually a more attractive source of pollen than the flowers I've tried to grow myself in various pots and planters. 

So, after managing to get a photo or two of this unusually co-operative gatekeeper, it was off for a walk to Cottage Lane Nature Reserve, taking in the various big buddleias I could remember on the way. Nothing on the one by Mill Lane Bridge, but the one down the side of the secure mental health unit was covered in butterflies.

There was even a rather tired looking brimstone feeding, and to catch one of those motionless is a real event, let alone get a photo of one. There was a really nice comma too, kindly showing off its, er, comma.

The cherry on the cake - mating ringlets in Cottage Lane reserve itself!

A very worthwhile walk indeed!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 05.07.22

A Painted Lady!

 I've been seeing a fair few painted ladies flying around lately without ever seeing one settle; later summer migrants to the UK, you can recognise them flying around at this time of year from their paler orange colour than that displayed by the other similar-at-a-distance two species on the wing in September, the small tortoiseshell and the comma. 

I found two on the buddleia at the entrance to Millgate Island, just after an irate and angler had told me I wasn't allowed to go onto the island as "It is only for fishing now and I own it."

Well, I didn't know that.

One of the butterflies was up on the higher flowers in the , but the other was lower down, and rather less energetic so I could get a few photos, which I hope you will agree came out rather well!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 16.09.21

On the Buddleia

 If you want a plant that attracts pollinators and requires very little maintenance indeed, then buddleia is the one. A lot of the time it will grow whether you want one or not, and can be cut back to stumps each year and still come back bigger and stronger in no time.

Its sweet smelling flowers are a magnet for insects, and if you come across one on your travels, be sure to look at the flower heads to see who is visiting. It could be anything. 

Our small one at work seems to have some butterfly or other on it every time I walked past it. On this occasion it was a beautiful peacock, in A1 condition, that I somehow managed to get decent photos of despite the breeze. 

A small tortoiseshell proved more problematic, and sadly these photos aren't as good. But, they'll do. They are colourful, at any rate!

There's even a first shot for the year of a common blue on pennyroyal as a bonus.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 14.08.21

My Resurgent Buddleia

I reported last Spring how my tattooed Polish neighbour had hacked my buddleia back to nothing to let the sun at her black petunias and other delights.

A year on, it has suddenly grown to ten feet high and is coming into flower. Hoverflies were sampling its delights.

I am pleased. I await butterflies visiting the thickly sweet smelling blooms.

Si