Hey friends! 

I’ve got four new photographs to share with you this week, I’m literally having the best butterfly year of my life! It helps that the weather has been amazing and my wildlife garden is more or less finished (it will never be totally finished of course!) But creating a nectar rich garden and letting the space re-wild as much as possible has brought so many new types of butterfly to my garden this year.

Including this little lovely thing, she’s a female (I think) Clouded Yellow butterfly (Colias croceus) who is one of our regular and specular migrant species! They are seen in the UK most years but when the weather is like it has been then these guys are known for mass migrations and create something called a ‘clouded yellow year’, which is cool.

Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus) is considered to be a large butterfly with a wingspan up to 62mm, they tend to rest with their wings closed which is a shame. I’m fairly certain this one is female as I’ve got a few photos of her mid flight and she has yellow spots in the boarders of her wings – which the males don’t have…you can just about see them through her wings.

It’s been my very first Clouded Yellow experience and I didn’t even have to leave the garden! I always thought I’d have go adventure to meet a one of these butterflies, turns out if you create a nectar rich haven the pollinators come to you! 

I’d seen her flying around a couple of times (theres no mistaking that yellow) but she finally landed in the garden long enough to snap about 100 photos and follow her around like a loon! All in all a pretty cool experience.

Also I had no idea they had such pink legs!

Literally I feel so lucky to have seen one of these butterflies.

For next week I think I’m gonna really try and create a pair needlework Clouded yellows. As always thanks for reading and have a wonderful week!