Has your part of the world got hit by the Pokémon Go fever too? Mine has! The past couple of weeks, our parks and streets have been swarming with people using their mobile phones to chase pokémons (and sometimes getting dangerously blind to anything else)...
The media have even been reporting that hospitals are facing a novel problem in how to diagnose “Pokémon-related injuries”...
Can’t say that I personally have yet witnessed any particular reason to see it as a big problem, though. I have just been a bit bewildered and amused to see all these people walking about, obviously very deeply engaged in the game.
The funniest game-related conversation I overheard so far:
(Father and child, each with their own mobile):
- Dad, I can't catch it. It's on the water!
- Must be Jesus... He can walk on the water...
Myself, I have so far been content with just chasing butterflies with my camera. (Which can probably look just as curious to people who have no idea what I’m up to!) There have been quite a few butterflies fluttering about as well lately, on sunny days – even if just the most common kinds. But a larger number of them than I’ve seen around the last couple of summers.
Perhaps butterflies like the company of Pokémons too? (Or else it’s just the result of the warm weather we had in the late spring and early summer this year…)
Small Tortoiseshell wearing its invisibility cloak (wings closed)
Common Brimstone - Gonepteryx rhamni – Citronfjäril
(these seem to always keep their wings closed while eating, trying to look like green leaves)
Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae – Nässelfjäril) showing its colours
Peacock - Inachis io – Påfågelöga
I think that this one, upside-down, was trying to imitate a Pokémon…
Sharing with Outdoor Wednesday
20 comments:
love the title of your post so very fun and your pictures are amazing
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Too funny.
I love seeing ANY kind of butterflies! And yours are exceptional! Your peacock photos are marvelous!! He is my favorite. I also love your closeup of the tortoiseshell. What a great chance to see his furry body. The Brimstone are a beautiful pastel. Brimstone always makes me thing of Fire & Brimstone, so I do not know why they named this one that. Yes, we have the Pokemon thing here. But I would much rather chase butterflies. At least they are REAL.
I would rather chase butterflies! Your shots are lovely. We seem to have had more butterflies this year, but then we have more blossoms. We are told that it is because of last year's drought - that the plants are putting out more blossoms because they are threatened.
I must live in a parralel universe as I've not heard of Pokémon.
I did enjoy the butterflies as I only have Tortoiseshells, Ringlets and Small Whites here.
Lovely photos. We don't have Brimstones in this part of England but they are to be found in Cheshire - they just don't like the Wirral.
Great pictures, Monica! I see many butterflies but am too slow with my camera, same as when I try to capture birds or other animals. Maybe I should start taking pictures of snails :-)
Pokémon Go has been reportedly a problem in Ludwigsburg, too. The manager of the palace grounds has been interviewed in the local paper, and he said that people were trying to climb the fences to get into the grounds after closing time only because they wanted to catch the little monsters, and during opening times, they would trample across flower beds without thinking.
When people get injured, I do feel sorry for them normally, but not when this game is the reason - we all need to keep our eyes open to the world around us when we are out and about, not glued to our mobiles.
Ginny, the male's wings are bright yellow on top (but the female's paler, almost white) - something very hard to catch with my camera because in the air they flutter constantly, and as soon as they sit down, they close their wings and only show the pale green underneath. The Swedish name is Citronfjäril which means lemon butterfly. Brimstone=Sulfur is yellow so I suppose that's where they got the English name. However, someone also told me that this one is where the name "butterfly" originates from (butter also being yellow).
Clever plants! :) (and helping the butterflies at the same time!)
I'm not too surprised that the Pokémons haven't reached your neck of the woods yet, Adrian. They seem to prefer more densely populated territories so far... You'll soon find out what it's about if you google, but in short it's a new mobile GPS-based game that forces players to go out in the real world to be able to play...
John, around here the Brimstone may be the most commonly seen butterfly of them all - even if they make it hard for anyone to detect them while they're sitting still!
Thanks Meike. I agree it's not the easiest thing to catch them with the camera - which is why I suspect that some people who see me trying probably wonder what I'm up to (and might now also mistake me for a Pokémon hunter!)
Butterflies, much better to chase than Pokemon.
I must say I like your butterflies much better than the silly game. I just don't get it I have seen people doing it and I see it on TV all the time but I'd still don't understand what they're doing but then I really don't care what they're doing because I won't be doing it
I tend to agree, Janet :) I'm not all against the Pokémon idea though - even if I don't think I'll be playing myself.
Sandra, I haven't seen the actual game either, only watched players from a distance. I guess a good thing about it is that it gets game-lovers outdoors and also interacting with each other "live" rather than just sitting at home playing. If used with common sense (in traffic etc) I see no harm in it. But I don't think I'll be trying it myself though - I prefer the butterflies!
Really nice pictures of your butterflies! That one you showed us upside down does look like a Pokemon! I only know it because it is pictured on Instagram sometime! (I only do Instagram to LIKE the beer photos for my son's magazine!)
Thanks Kay. That's what I thought... Not while I was photographing it in the park, but when I got the picture up on my screen at home :) (I googled Pokemons when I first heard of the new game and I wondered what it was about...)
Well, having read that, I had to go and find out what a Pokemon looked like. Hmmm. I've not seen anyone Pokemonning in my recent travels but then perhaps I wouldn't have recognised what they were doing even if I had. Butterflies are much more to my liking.
Same here, Graham. A quick internet search soon informs me that the Pokemons have actually reached Stornoway as well, though... So watch out! (not for the pokemons, but for the players!)
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