Peacock butterfly, Autumn Cottage
My activity over the last week or two has conjured up images of a Victorian lady, wearing a 'a good, thick skirt' and rushing about the countryside, swishing a collecting net about to capture those 'jewels on the wing' - the butterflies of summer…except that the only capturing I do is with a camera and there is not a killing bottle in sight.
Gatekeeper, Greenham Common
For some reason, butterflies and moths have caught my attention recently - no doubt for no other reason than that there are a lot of them about right now! When I was a child, I knew most of the names of most common butterflies (we knew things like that in the 1950's, didn't we?) - but I am somewhat embarrassed to say that some had names slipped my mind. Nothing like looking closely at something to learn about it
though - and particularly by looking in detail at something that really interests you. We learn best about those things that capture our interest - those things about which we really WANT to learn.
These are the butterflies that I have 'captured' in just the last couple of days; I remembered the names of all of them - with a little help for the Small Blue at Greenham. Just such beauty all around - and recording our observations helps to keep the knowledge of the wild world around us (and pass it on) by just looking, writing and remembering.
Painted Lady, Autumn Cottage
Brimstone, Autumn Cottage
Red Admiral, Autumn Cottage
For a beautiful book conserving perilously close-to-lost knowledge, get hold of a copy of Robert McFarlane & Jackie Morris's 'Lost Words' - and for an entertaining peek into the world of a (rather unconventional!) Victorian butterfly hunter, try 'Love Amongst the Butterflies' - the Diaries of Margaret Fountaine (who found more than just butterflies on her travels!!)
A good identification guide for British butterflies can be found here, and you can download an ID chart and contribute to the Big Butterfly Count UK national survey of butterflies here until 11th August 2019. If you would like to partake in Butterfly Conservation's 2019 special Migration Watch for Painted Lady butterflies, just look here
Journal prompt - did you 'collect' wildlife when you were young? Minnows in jamjars? Conkers and pebbles for the school 'Nature Table'? Tell me about it…then go out and capture Five Wild Things (with your camera or your eyes only!) - come back, identify them via books or websites - tell us about what you have 'caught' - and be delighted that you have beauty right under your nose if you just make an intention to look.
[Some readers have told me that they are keeping a special notebook in which to write their responses to 'A Month in the Country' prompts (whhich pleases me no end!) - you might like to consider doing so as well...and don't forget last year's series - just click on the Category 'A Month in the Country' in the right hand sidebar, and ALL posts will appear as if by magic!]
Small Blue on Kidney Vetch - Greenham Common
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