Monday was a lovely day in the garden, the sky had scudding clouds and it was windy, for some reason the butterflies thought it a perfect day and fluttered about every time I passed any of the plants they were feeding from. The wind, of course, made it challenging to photograph them, but here are a few I managed to capture.
This moth was flying by day, not sure what it is on this Sedum
Either a long or Lang’s short-tailed blue (you’d think it would be easy to tell them apart!
Silver studded blue?
With the wings open you can see why they are ‘blues’ – closed you can’t see the blue at all
This one definately looks like it has long tails! Feeding on the newly flowering rosemary
The caterpillar of the Swallowtail butterfly likes fennel to feed on and to make its chrysalis.
The first picture was in the morning, by early evening it had climbed up to the fronds of the fennel where they usually make their chrysalis.
There was a Swallowtail flying around in the morning but it wouldn’t settle to be photographed. I think it was confused as I have Brassicas in the same bed as the fennel, in fact they are now rather swamping the fennel so the butterfly could sense there was fennel somewhere about but couldn’t quite locate it. Just shows it’s worth planting different smelling things together to confuse predators. The fennel would have been more obvious when the eggs were laid of this caterpillar.
Not just butterflies – I found a stick insect on the wall, if they are on sticks they are usually invisible.
I’ve never seen so many Carpenter bees in the garden all at once as there were on Monday. This was alone feeding on Salvia
But there were dozens on the Perovskia
They look like shadows in the image, I hope you can see them.
Oh wow! Was it ever a butterfly day for you Christina! Just gorgeous. Beautiful flowering plants too!
Fascinating. I didn’t know you had stick insects in Italy and those black carpenter bees look like stealthy assassins from a Bond movie.
I’d never seen them in the ‘wild’ so to speak until we came here; we used to have them at school to study! The bees are quite large and the Italians are terrified of them but they seem quite gentle creatures and never bother me even if I’m up tying in the wisteria while they’re feeding. Christina
Lovely – we’ve had pouring rain here these past few days so it’s nice to be reminded of what I could/should be seeing. Though perhaps not the stick insect. Amazing. I remember seeing one in Greece years ago and me having to be dragged away eventually I was so mesmerised. D
I see the stick insects quite regularly, when they’re not actually hiding amongst sticks! Christina
So many wonderful creatures in your garden. I love that beautiful caterpillar!
It’s one caterpillar I never kill, they don’t actually do very much damage and the Swallowtail is such a beautiful butterfly I wouldn’t mind if it did. Christina
The photos are fabulous considering the wind. I’ve planted a few plants to attract more butterflies, one of which is Perovskia. I’m so looking forward to it taking off this season – its so stunning!
Perovskia is such an easy plant too!
Great photos. I drove my son mad trying to photograph butterflies atd The Garden House. The butterflies seem to know what I was doing and conspired against me!! I did like seeing different butterflies on your blog
Christina, so many insects are on your flowers and veges. Do they damage in you garden? The butterfly and caterpillar are nice!
No Nadezda, there is a balance in the garden of pests and predators; I don’t use pesticides; wasps usually eat most of the cabbage white butterfly caterpillars and eggs and the caterpillar of the swallowtail doesn’t do any noticeable damage. I like sharing the garden with most wildlife. I could manage without the moles that come in and damage crops and the fox we’ve had this year that damaged the irrigation system and ate my melons! Christina
I see your garden is bouncing back and recovering from a brutal summer drought.
Yes, the cooler temperatures and some rain mean that most plants are reassuringly awakening from their summer dormancy. Christina
I enjoyed seeing all the photographs. Your summer has not finished, it is lovely to see all the butterflies still enjoying the flowers. The Lang’s blue looked really beautiful.
You have so many different kinds of butterflies. I love the carpenter bees with their shiny black armor. They look like miniature gladiators.
In the sun they look dark blue. Christina
Lots of lovely insects in your garden Christina, wonderful when they all come visiting. The stick insect is amazing, its a wonder you saw it, so well disguised.
On the wall it’s pretty obvious but when it’s on a plant, they are perfectly camouflaged. Christina
Christina the flowers are a delight, but even more so when the butterflies and bees visit too…added blooms I think…and what a fabulous find that stick insect!