Chasing Butterflies Daily

The 18th of August I found a Red Admiral caterpillar. If you look at my blog post from last year when we also raised one you'll note there's quite a difference in the colour of the two but their markings and spikes are very distinctive. It spent time munching away on nettles in our butterfly cage until the 23rd of August when it settled on the plastic roof of the cage and hung itself upsidedown - attached securely with silk webbing.  Butterflies usually make stunning pupae which are true works of art and the Red Admiral does not disappoint. They have shimmering gold patches on them as shown below. Right before emerging they start to darken in colour as their wings prepare for the world. The photo below is from the 3rd of September. Yesterday afternoon (the 5th of September) I noticed that the pupa was darkening and must've missed it emerging by minutes as when I looked soon after there was a butterfly in the cage. Gutted that ...

This post has taken a while to get to! Between getting used to the new routine of full days at school/nursery for two of the children, their weekly dance lessons, me doing my DSA fundraiser, potty training, the days becoming shorter and starting to work a few evenings a week at the local pub I haven't had the energy or time to document this. On the 23rd of August this year the two youngest ones and I found this caterpillar on the porch outside the front of our house. I was delighted to stumble upon a caterpillar and dashed off to grab the tupperware box I usually use to keep caterpillars.When I came back it was gone. Despite telling the middle child "Do NOT touch it" she had poked it and it had fallen down between the slabs. Just by chance (because quite a few of the steps are ridiculously loose - the landlord has been informed) I could see it. I reached it with a twig and managed to, gently, coax it out. It had rolled itself up when it fell and was neatly enclosed...

Day 1 (With us) On the 18th of July I was out on one of our daily dog walks out in West Cowal on Argyll's Secret Coast, a peninsula on the west coast of Scotland. As I walked past some long grass and weeds. I spotted something that "didn't belong there", something that looked out of place. I was a good 3-4 metres away, I thought I was probably imagining things but you never know if you don't explore further. I thought, if I was lucky, it might be a butterfly or moth hiding in the long grass. As I got closer I soon realised it was a small group of caterpillars on a cluster of nettles. These black, spikey caterpillars are those of the colourful Peacock butterfly. I remember seeing them as a kid, but then in their hundreds, safe in the web they form around themselves as protection from predators. They are one of many breeds of butterfly and moth that feed from nettles as larvae. One of the reasons it's so important to not get rid of all nettles in your gar...

As most of my readers should've gathered by now I'm a little obsessed with butterflies. My obsession started after we chose our eldest's name, which means butterfly (more about all 3 kids names can be found in my post: Why all the butterflies? ). After that it was a slippery slope, and we now live in a house with butterfly motifs EVERYWHERE. I often have others ask me how I manage to find so many butterfly clothes and things for and the kids. The secret is that I'm that crazy person who'll add "buttery" to most of my Google searches when purchasing something, whether for us or as a gift. HOWEVER I'm still very much a novice when it comes to knowing about actual butterflies. I have however been completely smitten by them, moths and their caterpillars. I've started looking for them anytime I'm out and researching any new ones I don't know about. Most valuable in this, I've found, has been several Facebook groups that are focused...