After a rather mild and sunny start to September, it's now getting more autumn-like. Today we've been having very "moody" weather with torrential showers and strong gusts of wind one minute, and sunshine and blue skies the next. I managed to fit in two short walks between showers, though - one before lunch (with trekking poles), and one after (without). But I kept close to home, just walking around the old cemetery and nearby streets, as it was hard to predict how fast the weather might change.
On my second round I came across this Red Admiral butterfly, trying to dry its wings in a sunny spot between showers. With all the rain we had in July-August, I have seen very few butterflies on the whole this summer.
12 comments:
This makes my throat close up just looking at it!! I am severely allergic to dead fall leaves and have been in the hospital with anaphylactic shock because of them! It looks like so much fun to walk through them and kick them!
What a beautiful butterfly!
sorry i am late here, i took two naps yesterday, not sure why. I love that first shot with the brilliant green and the orange leaves. beautiful colors. we are still drought, and very few butterflies. we have been wondering why.
Those are excellent photos of the Red Admiral.
In spite of planting trees and shrubs to attract butterflies, we've rarely seen any in the garden. I suspect the constant building work around about, over the years, has discouraged them. Plenty of dead leaves around here, the lack of rain over the summer has caused the leaves to fall earlier than ever. I'm constantly clearing them up in the garden.
I do'nt think we have butterflies like that here, it's pretty. Your temperatures sound just like what we have right now.
That sounds really bad, Ginny! My main allergy is grass but I too have found it best to keep taking my allergy pills throughout the fall season.
It is, Barbara - and I was happy that it agreed to pose for me!
Sandra yes, there is quite a contrast still between a lot of green because of the rain, and at the same time autumn colours creeping in and dead leaves falling to the ground.
Thanks Carol. I guess there are lots of things (including climate/weather) that play in when it comes to butterflies - from the time eggs are laid until they come out as full-grown butterflies.
Amy, the Swedish Wiki article says that the Red Admiral butterfly has been "introduced" to NZ as well but I suppose that means it may not be all that common in your part of the world.
Beautiful pictures, Monica! Like you, we had a few times during our holiday when we did not dare to venture very far but kept in the vicinity of the village, ready to return when the weather would become too unfriendly, and certainly not hiking up steep rocky slopes that get very slippery when wet.
Up in the mountains, the leaves have hardly begun to turn yet; when we came back Wednesday afternoon, we noticed how much more autumnal things already look her in town, with our large horse chestnut and maple trees lining many streets.
Sounds like your autumn weather is as changeable as our spring weather. I don't venture too far from the house without a good long look at the sky, trying to work out what will come next, sunshine or rain.
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