14 August 2008

Great Spangled Fritillary

Isn't that a great name for a butterfly? I went up to the hayfield this afternoon to see whether we had any Monarch caterpillars on the milkweed plants up there. In late August last year they were being chewed to stalks by them. I saw this fritillary instead:


We have seen fewer Monarch butterflies than we had this time last year - but that might be down to the dampish nature of the last six weeks. When I found the patch of milkweeds they looked completely unscathed:


But on my way back home a Monarch appeared and posed for me in the clump of trees next to the pond, as if to reassure me that they haven't deserted the farm completely.

2 comments:

VP said...

Hi Amanda,

Lovely butterflies - we seem to have a shortage of them over here this year :(

Thanks so much for your donation to my 'open garden' and the link over here. I hope you enjoyed your visit - do come again!

Anonymous said...

How elegant and beautiful they are too! I just keep seeing orange ones in my garden. Don't know what it is with the orange. Orange dragonflies too...
Brenda