This has been a much better year for butterflies, without the wall to wall rain we have had these past two summers. The dry start to the year and the terrific warm spell up until mid-July really helped them. On my Buddlia the the day I counted a dozen Tortoiseshells, so there must have been a hatching hereabouts. There was a Comma, a Red Admiral and 3 Peacocks too, as well as several Small Whites, which are inevitably the commonest of the butterflies. A few weeks ago there was a hatch of Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns - they were everywhere - and plenty of Speckled Woods down the hill too.
It's a good year for Beans too, and I have been picking a motley selection daily. Some are eaten with the evening meal, but there are plenty to freeze too. The Italian flat bean has been particularly prolific and the Borlotti beans have done well too.
My buddleias have been remarkably free of butterflies this year but I've seen lots of gatekeepers and meadow browns when I've been out. I'll have to see whether ripe fallen plums bring in the usual peacocks and red admirals at the end of this month. There are years when the garden is full of inebriated butterflies!
ReplyDeleteYou have some beautiful Tortoiseshells. I have only seen two this year, down by the nettles in the field. We still have a few Brimstones about and I saw a Speckled Wood this morning.
ReplyDeleteButterflies love our buddleias, they get drunk on it though and then fall in the pool and have to rescued.
ReplyDeleteJust show how much further on the gardens are over in your part of the country - here our runner beans are in flower and we have had one boiling of six beans so far. Broad beans are being picked daily, peas are all in the freezer.
ReplyDeleteWoG - gosh, I'm glad that OH didn't really put his foot down about moving to Yorkshire or Northumbria! My beans were later than those of a friend in Dorset too.
ReplyDeleteMac n' Janet - can just see you sat beside the pool, waiting for the butterflies to topple in!
DW - in all the time we've been here I have only ever seen ONE Brimstone. I don't think their feed plants grow around here.
Rowan - another one with drunken butterflies! We had a plague of wasps one year and all that was left of our sweet pippin apples was the skins - the wasps had hollowed them out. The butterflies were mighty peeved . . .