I’ve got a new butterfly tale for you! This post has been a while in the making and actually began in May…when I planted cabbages in my Wildspace so that the cabbage butterflies had a place to lay their eggs – I really dislike that vegetable growers sometimes treat them as pests and decided that the little patch of nature I’ve been blessed with would welcome these butterflies.
Anyway, on the 2nd of June I sat and watched a Large white (Pieris brassicas) flutter around the garden and she took a fancy to one of the cabbage leaves…they’re actually really picky about what leaves they lay eggs on and watching her, was like she was trying all the leaves for size.
Creepy crawly caterpillars, creep crawl creep. Creepy crawly caterpillars hear them creep. Crawly crawly creep. Creepy creepy crawl. I’ve got caterpillars to share with you all!!
Hello friends!
Firstly, d’ya like my song?
Secondly, ever bought a plant at a garden centre and ended up bringing aphids/bugs home?
Seeing as today kicks off Butterfly Conservations Butterfly Count I thought I’d share a look at the new peeps I’ve been caring for! (Warning its kinda a long post!)
Well, as intoned in the above verse I’ve had caterpillars!!! I’ve actually set up and built my own butterfly house so that I can raise and release butterflies I find in the garden. Although I didn’t actually find these chaps in the garden (I found them in the kitchen), I decided I wanted to add a couple more thistles to my growing collection of plants because I love them, especially the pink ones! (there’s something punky about them) and while I was trying to find a moment to plant them I realised something was eating them…well it turned out to be caterpillars – Painted ladies to be precise! One of my favourites!!
Setting up and creating my own butterfly house to give them their best chance in life has been awesome – we have a lot of bird life here and apparently a blue tit chick can eat 100 caterpillars each day, butterflies are already quickly declining – if by doing my bit for conservation and getting nine out of ten pupae to emerge can help bolster the species numbers then I’ll do it. Plus, everyone needs a hobby and watching them complete their life cycle brings me such an extreme amount of joy I can’t really put it into words.
*cue the hand cut eco confetti made from pressed flowers*
Okay, actually, its 202 to be exact! Anyway, a supersized THANK YOU to everyone who’s subscribed and liked my posts! I wouldn’t be where I’m at without you and I truly appreciate it more than you can possibly imagine!
So on to this weeks post, since the weather has been so gloriously filled with sunshine I thought I’d go on a little wander through a golden summer afternoon to try and find some brightly coloured wildflowers, and I wanted to take you guys along with me so you can enjoy the relaxing atmosphere and pretty plants too! I hope these photos bring as much joy to your day as much as they did mine.
This week is insect week – which is run by the Royal entomology society to try and get us to engage with the importance of insects/pollinators.
Something I love about photographing bugs or animals is that you have until they lose interest or fly away to try and capture an amazing image so this week I thought I’d share seven of the best (in my opinion) bug photos I’ve taken over the last month or two.
This year I accidentally bought a dyer’s camomile instead of the regular type you make tea with and the flowers are massive, this iridescent green swollen-thighed beetle (Oedemera nobilis) rested on it for a few minutes and then flew away.
Here’s a little butterfly centred post fluttering its way to you. You might remember that a couple of months ago I posted about rescuing some orange tip butterfly pupae?
Well recently I’ve been caring for 9 Small tortoiseshell caterpillars, which pupated about ten days ago! It was so exciting. I’ve raised these butterflies before, my newly improved butterfly house involves serval pop-up mesh enclosures and many different types of butterfly friendly plants to simulate the outside world – in an attempt to give them a better start in life.
Butterflies in the UK are declining so quickly that I want to be able to save as many of them as I can to help boost the local populations.
I love it when they ‘colour up’ and you can see the suggestion of wing patterns through the shell.
Welcome back to another edition of my random ramblings…how are ya?!
One of my favourite quotes in life is from TheSecret Garden which reads;
If you look the right way, you can see the whole world is a garden.
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Incase I haven’t mentioned it before, I love being outside in nature and gardening is so soothing for the soul.
Anyway, this is the third Fleeting Thought, it’s been like three months since the last one (where have those months gone!!) and I’ve written a haiku about new leaves- you’ve been warned!
So here goes…
I’ve finally taken the plunge into organised gardening (it’s been one of my life goals since forever!) it seems to create much more work than my regular type of gardening which has always generally consisted of one of two simple methods (1) open seed packets and scatter at will or (b) buy plant, dig hole for plant, plant plant.
Can you believe it, we’re already sneaking up on the end of May?! Its finally stopped raining long enough to get some proper gardening done and I’m totally loving being outdoors!
Anyway, its been about a month since I posted my last One Frame and I’ve got a new shot of some beautiful green leaves to share with you this week. When I moved into my home in I totally fell in love with the huge tree at the bottom of the garden and have had to wait for months to identify it.
Aren’t flowers just one of life’s loveliest things?
My inner fairy just wants to be set free and sit amongst them. I recently went on a nature hike and the woods are filled with some of the prettiest wildflowers I’ve ever seen. A thing I love about hiking in the wilds here is that although its hours before you see another human being, the most amazing birdsong fills the air.
I wanted to take you guys along with me so you can enjoy the relaxing atmosphere and pretty flowers too! I hope these photos bring as much joy to your day as much as they did mine.
Seeing as spring has definitely sprung I thought I’d post a little nature filled one frame this week, I was out for a walk the other day and met a recently fledged juvenile blackbird!
Isn’t he beautiful?! At least I think its male because of the really dark wing feathers. Something I didn’t know is that baby blackbirds usually leave the nest before they can actually fly and scramble their way around trees and bushes, while hoping not to be eaten!
Blackbirds are actually a member of the Thrush family and are one of the UK’s most common birds they also have the prettiest of birdsong.
When I took this photo it was a bit nippy but the light was amazing and he was quite happy for me to take his photo. With my camera (which is a bit of a relic) anything at a distance gets a little bit blurry, but this little fella was only about a foot away so I was able to capture his details and I’m super happy with the final image.
So that’s it for this week, one lovely blackbird photographed for this post. I hope you like it. Do you have a favourite wild bird? They are wonderful creatures and I love watching them. As always thanks for reading and have a wonderful week!
This weeks post is a butterfly centred photography collection.
I recently had to have a bit of a clear out in my new garden, for many reasons but mainly that (1) it was full of some seriously dead plants and (B) there was a little section of fencing that connected to the dry stone wall (I mean its literally one of my life goals to have a garden with a dry stone wall) that meant my dog could get out. I felt so bad for having to take away some of the dead plants but needed to make it safe for my pooch.
While I was having this clear out I found four Orange tip butterfly pupae! Being a towny I’ve never really seen these before and the pupae themselves were tiny, but being the bug freak that I am I brought them inside and created an environment for them to finish their transformation and wanted to share the photos with you.
ArtyMissK 
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