BS: For the Butterflies

Subject: BS: For the Butterflies
From: Raptor
Date: 18 Apr 05 - 10:53 PM

Yesterday I saw my first Mourning Cloak !

God I love spring!

I was canoeing tonight.

Raptor

Subject: RE: BS: For the Butterflies
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Apr 05 - 10:56 PM

Lots of wasps out in the yard. No memorable butterflies so far. Lots of moths. Lots of birds. A few geckos (who eat the moths).

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: For the Butterflies
From: Bobert
Date: 18 Apr 05 - 10:56 PM

Me too, Rap... Nuthin' like spring.... Nuthin'

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: For the Butterflies
From: mack/misophist
Date: 19 Apr 05 - 01:38 AM

Haven't seen a butterfly in town in years. Gor hummingbirds, though. And an owl, and doves, etc'

Subject: RE: BS: For the Butterflies
From: Amos
Date: 19 Apr 05 - 04:03 AM

San Diego was literally awash with them three weeks ago for two days. They were flitting down the streets, down the sidewalks, through the flowers and trees, they were thick int he air. I t was as if every butterfly in the country had come to town. But not in the Convention Center area -- all over the whole city!! Carpeted with the wee flappers! Never saw the like. Two days later, they were almost entirely gone. Lot of fat birds running around, is all.

True! :)


A

Subject: RE: BS: For the Butterflies
From: Emma B
Date: 19 Apr 05 - 04:22 AM

Saw my first Brimstone of the year in the garden last week. A couple of butterflies normally hibernate somewhere in the house over winter (a good excuse for not being too scrupulous with the cleaning) and have the habit of coming out for a quick flutter in the middle of Yuletide revels!

Subject: RE: BS: For the Butterflies
From: keberoxu
Date: 27 Jul 19 - 04:47 PM

A spring thread from the old days --

and being refreshed in summer.


An enormous Monarch butterfly turned up yesterday afternoon.
The landscaped parking lot back of the branch of the public library
has numerous plantings of flowering things.
And the Monarch was soaring from one side of the parking lot to the other,
alighting upon blossom after blossom.

Subject: RE: BS: For the Butterflies
From: leeneia
Date: 27 Jul 19 - 09:49 PM

I saw the tiger swallowtail today in the turk's cap lilies.

Subject: RE: BS: For the Butterflies
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 31 Jul 19 - 06:35 PM

There seem to be much greater than average numbers of Painted Ladies about in S Scotland at the moment, and I'm not just meaning some of the weird sights we see attending Edinburgh Festival Fringe!

Subject: RE: BS: For the Butterflies
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 31 Jul 19 - 08:52 PM

Seen more Painted Ladies than usual here in Cornwall too.

Subject: RE: BS: For the Butterflies
From: leeneia
Date: 02 Aug 19 - 10:42 AM

I have planted tall milkweed and goldenrod because supposedly they attract butterflies. All they do is invade the yard, esp. the goldenrod.

Another problem 'butterfly attractor" is Queen Anne's Lace, which I never saw a butterfly on. It is toxic if handled when wet.

But I do see butterflies on vining milkweed. The DH and I are considering growing it on a trellis and removing seed pods before they open. It would be a pretty sight.

I have a lovely plant of the American native Joe Pye Weed which the bees love. The DH says he has seen butterflies on it, but I never have.

Subject: RE: BS: For the Butterflies
From: Charmion
Date: 02 Aug 19 - 03:27 PM

On my way downtown today, as I walked along the river, I was actually buzzed by a large Monarch butterfly. Stratford's municipal gardeners have encouraged patches of milkweed in the brushier parts of the city's parks, and the stuff positively crowds the riverbank. I guess the butterfly was just hangin' out in his 'hood.

Subject: RE: BS: For the Butterflies
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 Aug 19 - 05:41 PM

Queen Anne's Lace this end is Anthriscus sylvestris, a pretty harmless umbellifer that flowers from April to early June. Monarchs occasionally cross the Atlantic, quite likely by accident. I have some lovely photos of one I spotted in Madeira in late 2017. About fifteen years ago one appeared in my friends' garden in Bude. I got a rather hazy photo of it that I submitted to our regional newspaper, and they printed it!

Not been a great year so far and I've seen very few small tortoiseshells, but there's still time. I try to grow butterfly-friendly plants such as buddleias and Sedum "Brilliant" and there are plenty of nettles for caterpillar food around the edge of my garden. Maybe the late-summer surge is yet to come.

Subject: RE: BS: For the Butterflies
From: keberoxu
Date: 03 Aug 19 - 06:25 PM

For no good reason, the earworm in my mind's ear right now
is a bit of satire
from Lewis Carroll's Sylvie and Bruno,

which has many song lyrics,
and one song has the repeated line:

Sing Beans,
Sing Bones,
Sing Butterflies!