July busyness

 

July busyness

It has been a delight to see numbers of Gatekeeper butterflies (Pyronia tithonus) fluttering about the oregano flowers and settling on them to feed.

  Gatekeepers are often known as Hedge browns. They emerge in July and August and breed one generation. The caterpillars feed on tall meadow grass, then overwinter as larvae. They then pupate in the spring, before hatching as butterflies in the family of Browns.

Their wings are orange and brown, with one small black spot on the forewing. Each spot carries two small white spots. These spots mark the difference between the Hedge brown and its close cousin, the Meadow brown. The latter has just one white pupil on its black wing spot.

                I think I saw Meadow browns (Maniola jurtina) in the garden, too.

                                                Small white

Small and Large Whites were flying, but would not settle for their photographic opportunity. The photographs above were taken a few years ago, when a Small white, or Cabbage butterfly, (Pieris rapae) had come into the conservatory to lay her eggs.

            

As I sat watching, a Holly blue (Celastrina argiolus) came to rest on the oregano. The oregano flowers have proved very popular. I  think they provide great quantities of pollen.

                

                            

                

            

            Meanwhile, on the Lavatera, a huge bumble bee was in apparent                         ecstasy, turning this way and that on its bright pink couch.

    

There were numbers of hoverflies, bees large and small in a variety of stripes and patterns, and a myriad of other pollinators, from very noticeable to almost microscopic.