The heat seems to have forced many butterflies to take cover but the whites have been out & about.. This shot is of a green-veined white butterfly taking shelter in the hedgerow fern

#InMyGarden #SaveButterflies #lepidoptera #macro #macros #GreenVeinedWhite #Butterfly #butterflyconservation

Change and decay
Life and death
Comma butterfly probably newly emerged from its pupa silently sips on the juice of an apple in advanced stage of decay

#SilentSunday
#AutumnVibes
#InMyGardenToday
#InMyGarden
#CommaButterfly #Butterfly #SaveButterflies
#ButterflyConservation
#Autumn

The buddleia is in full flower, the sun strong between the rain showers. Ideal day for catching sight of a Peacock butterfly Aglais Io grabbing some food #InMyGarden #today - paying a visit to our resident colony of its cousins Aglais urticae whose population here this week rose to nine!
#butterflies #SaveButterflies #ButterflyConservation #lepidoptery #GayGardener #peacock #AglaisIo

It’s been a wonderful couple of days butterfly spotting #InMyGarden with nine different species visiting us. Newest arrivals are Pararge Aegeria - Speckled Wood - flitting in and out of the shade. And my favourite Pyronia tithonus - the Gatekeeper - with its double eyespots patrolling the hedges in the firey heat of the summer. Pyrotechnic…
#GateKeeper #butterflies #SaveButterflies #ButterflyConservation #lepidoptery

I’d love to know for sure what this extraterrestrial-like creature is. I think it’s either a white ermine or satin moth, but better lepidopterists than me might correct me. I took the poorer photo looking at the moth’s face and comb-like antennae yesterday - a difficult angle as it was sitting on the garage door. I took the other photo earlier of another example, sitting on the floor.
#lepidoptery #moth #InMyGarden #lepidopterist #ButterflyConservation #MothsAndButterflies #GayGardener

#InMyGarden this week the rows of lavender are at their peak, overwhelming with their intense colour and scent - giving me what I know they would - the longing to be back in Provence, where I once dreamt I might settle.
Today there are Meadow Browns & Small Tortoiseshells flitting over them from morning till evening
#lavender #butterflies #MeadowBrown #ButterflyConservation #SaveButterflies #GayGardener

At last a beautiful Comma sighted, the first of the summer brood.
I’ve read its numbers made a come-back in UK over the last 50 years, as it changed its preferred plant from hops to nettles. It’s one of the Polygonia butterflies, a name which means ‘many angles’ - as we can see on the edges of its wings.

#InMyGarden #CommaButterfly #butterflies #SaveButterflies #ButterflyConservation #GayGardener #lepidoptera

This week the Meadow Browns (Maniola jurtina) are about - at last! #InMyGarden it has coincided with the lavender coming into flower, which gives the butterflies a good feed. I wonder how they are affected by the scent, Because I use lavender oil to get me to sleep at night!
They’re not the prettiest, with their sombre funereal brown colour. That may be the reason it was named after the ‘manes’ - the soul of the dead in ancient Greek myth.
#butterfly #butterflyConservation #SaveButterflies

A good feed is all this Peacock butterfly needed - luckily the valerian is just coming in to flower.
The european Peacock butterfly’s scientific name is Aglais Io - I’ve read that in greek mythology Io had a minder - Argos, the one with many eyes - to keep her away from Zeus’s attentions.
#butterflies #peacockButterfly #butterflyConservation
#GayGardener #SaveButterflies #butterfliesOfMastodon #aglaisio

A Small Tortoiseshell has been waiting close to our garden for a warm sunny day to emerge. #today was the day!
This genus - aglais urticae - is named after Aglaia (splendid, shining one) in Gk myth, & latin ‘urtica’, stinging nettle, on which its larvae feed - we have a big clump on our boundary which we leave untouched. #butterflies #butterflyConservation
#GayGardener #SaveButterflies

#today I was in the town centre this morning, about to go into the hairdresser’s door. A male Holly Blue butterfly fluttered ahead of me, the first sighting this year. It landed at my feet, opened its wings for a few seconds, trembling, then took off again. So my shot is blurred, but still it’s exciting to have a record of the event.
#butterflyConservation #butterfly #HollyBlue #butterflies #saveButterflies

"Legion is a little word for the butterflies; the dry pastures among the
woods are brown with meadow-brown; blues and coppers float in endless succession; all the nations of Xerxes' army were but a handful to these."

Those were the words of Richard Jefferies in Field and Hedgerow – Hours of Spring.

🧵

Photograph by Rosie Tozer.

#natureobservations #175wildlifewalk #richardjefferies175 #nature #richardjefferies #butterflyconservation #butterflies #conservation

Four-fifths of UK butterfly species have declined since 1970s – report
#Butterflies
#SpeciesDecline
#UKSpeciesDecline
#UKBiodiversity
#ButterflyConservation
#Butterfly
https://app.independent.co.uk/2023/02/03/four-fifths-of-uk-butterfly-species-have-declined-since-1970s-report/content.html

This Wall butterfly which I was lucky to get a photo of #inmygarden last year, is in sharp decline here. UK butterflies are the best, most comprehensively monitored group of insects anywhere in the world. Butterflies fulfil a really important role as an indicator for thousands of other species & the general state of our environment. Butterfly Conservation’s report ‘The State of the UK’s Butterflies 2022’ is gloomy reading.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/feb/03/uk-butterflies-vanish-from-nearly-half-of-the-places-they-once-flew-study

#butterflyconservation #butterflies

One of my favourite butterflies, this photo of a third brood Small Copper taken in mid October at Essex Wildlife Trust John Weston Nature Reserve #essexwildlifetrust #essex #butterflyconservation

A surprise find at Essex Wildlife Trust Great Holland Pits this September was a Queen of Spain Fritillary #essex #ukbutterflies #butterflyconservation

Clouded Sulphur Butterflies on Devil’s Paintbrush flower #butterflies #butterflyconservation #nature #naturephotography

Brilliant night for #butterflies at the #NatureofScotland 2022 Awards in Edinburgh!UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme🦋📝 won the #CitizenScience category & Barry Prater of #ButterflyConservation ‘s East Scotland branch was recognised for his work championing the #NorthernBrownArgus🦋
🏆 Awards collected by the BC Scotland’s Anthony McCluskey & CEH’s Bjorn Beckmann (for UKBMS), and Apithanny Bourne & Ruben Singleton collected the #SpeciesChampion award on behalf of Barry Prater.🏆🦋🥂🍾✨Well done everyone!