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Post by SueA on Apr 15, 2013 17:47:01 GMT
I saw only my second butterfly of the year today, a small tortoiseshell on the mahonia in the front garden. I took a couple of photos of it through the window, didn't want the workmen to think I was bonkers standing there photographing a bush while they were digging on the drive! ;D   |
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Post by peony on Apr 15, 2013 17:59:02 GMT
Nice to see a butterfly Sue  I saw a couple yesterday, one brown one and a cabbage white. I'm surprised to see your mahonia is still flowering, mine finished ages ago   |
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Post by Geranium on Apr 15, 2013 20:46:38 GMT
I saw two butterflies today - for the first time this year. One was like yours, the other was a peacock! Pity I didn't have the camera ready. Isn't it wonderful to see them again. |
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Post by sweetpea on Apr 15, 2013 22:44:06 GMT
While weeding today I disturbed a very young butterfly, actually still a caterpillar.
It was in amongst some dandelions and herb robert.
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Post by esther on Apr 16, 2013 4:49:58 GMT
This little beauty was sunbathing in the arbour yesterday ;D  |
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Post by Rosie on Apr 16, 2013 8:24:42 GMT
How pretty Esther ;D
I saw 2 butterflies yesterday too and my first 2 bee's of the year ;D
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Post by SueA on Apr 16, 2013 11:01:31 GMT
That's a lovely pic. Esther, I think commas are my favourite butterflies, I love the 'frilly' edges! |
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Post by steve2t on Apr 16, 2013 17:33:36 GMT
We have had a "hibernating" tortoiseshell in our bathroom for at least
2 and a half years, poor thing decided to wake in march when it was bitterly cold. Good old sods law.
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Post by SueA on May 7, 2013 18:18:31 GMT
First speckled wood butterfly I've seen so far this year, couldn't get a pic. with it's wings open, they usually sit & sunbathe with their wings spread but as it was breezy I think this one was worried about being blown away.  |
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Post by peony on May 8, 2013 15:14:29 GMT
I saw an Orange Tip butterfly yesterday, had to look it up to find out its name which is quite obvious really  ;D |
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Post by SueA on May 8, 2013 19:51:05 GMT
They're pretty aren't they, we get them occasionally but I haven't seen any yet, the only others I've seen this week have been small & large whites.
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Post by Geranium on May 9, 2013 4:41:06 GMT
I just missed a great shot yesterday - a lovely anonymous butterfly on my Heuchera 'Lime Rickey' - it was brown with yellow markings and 'frilly' edges to the wings. I didn't recogise it.
Commas are beautiful. I'm pleased to see so many butterflies around this year.
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Post by peony on Jul 3, 2013 20:08:01 GMT
Spotted this butterfly today, small but pretty. Sorry not a very good picture.  |
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Post by Rosie on Jul 4, 2013 10:32:51 GMT
What lovely pictures, i haven't seen a huge amount of butterflies this year so far, we usually have loads in spring but not so this year.
I thought this was quite interesting about them...
It was originally buturfliog, a compound of butere "butter" and fleoge "fly". Why butter? it was due to many butterflies being yellow in color, like butter. Others believe it is based upon the yellow excrement of butterflies. Still others hold to the notion that butterflies were thought to land in kitchens and drink milk or butter left uncovered (this, interestingly, is supported by a German word for butterfly, milchdieb "milk-thief").
More likely origins include considering the that males of the common brimstone butterfly (Gonepteryx rhamni, Pieridae) of England are butter-colored, or that, as author Samuel Jackson suggested, butterflies and the churning of butter are the simultaneous harbingers of spring, or that the word derives from the old myth that witches and fairies stole butter in the night, in the form of butterflies. The first of these is probably the most likely explanation, but there is some etymological evidence for the last.
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Post by steve2t on Jul 4, 2013 12:04:17 GMT
I think "flutterby" would suit them better |
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I saw a couple yesterday, one brown one and a cabbage white. I'm surprised to see your mahonia is still flowering, mine finished ages ago 
;D
