Worrying lack of butterflies landing on my buddleia
It had been hibernating somewhere about the house and somehow found itself in this glass box of the shower unit and, while the top was, of course, open, it failed to find its way out. It was a creature of astounding beauty. I tried to carry it off to put it in a sideboard or table in out living room, just to show to friends, but before I knew it, one of the delicate blue-tipped antennae had fallen off and, although I found it on the path, it couldn’t be affixed again, no blob of superglue could be small enough to be invisible. So, it was now imperfect, and therefore, not exhibitable in all its glory. And, so glorious it was!
My readers will all know the small tortoiseshell; it is one of our most common butterflies, certainly the most common of the beautiful Vanessas, the family which includes the peacock, red admiral and painted lady. It, like the peacock, overwinters with us. The other two are migrants and they, having laid eggs and generated a new brood to enhance our countryside and country walks, die off by October, although a red admiral is sometimes seen still flying as late as December and, indeed, some lepidopterists maintain that there may be a reverse migration of red admirals, that they may return to the Mediterranean, whence they come, or even North Africa, as far as Egypt. However, this contention is unproven. Certainly, they have strong, resilient wings, and fly long distances on their way to Northern Europe, as far as Iceland, each year.
