Saturday, July 18, 2009

Butterfly Watching

HOW the butterflies and their winged friends are loving the sunny weather and our lovely brightly coloured flowers! Over the last few weeks we've spent many hours sitting in our garden watching the various creatures fluttering around and feasting on nectar. There have been little skippers, cabbage whites, sulphurs, fritillaries, and the largest we've seen so far, a beautiful Eastern Swallowtail.

We have two areas the butterflies especially favour: first, the rockery with lantana and assorted herbs which are now starting to flower. Secondly, a collection of pots with zinnias, impatiens and petunias. This is actually "Emma's Garden". She chose the flowers, planted them and has been diligently watering them. The pots are in an ideal location for us to watch during snack time. Emma likes the idea that she and the butterflies get to snack together.

Today we went to a Butterfly Festival, where, among other things, we witnessed a butterfly release of hundreds of fritillaries. That would have been impressive, except the butterflies didn't want to leave their cosy little box so it was a little anti-climatic!

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