The buddleia flowering season is now coming to an end. While it lasted, rgw plant attracted what’s probably been the best showing of a range of butterfly species this year.
Red admirals have been among the more co-operative, spending some time feeding on the lower branches, nearer to my eye level. There’s two individuals in this set.
A long-bodied cellar spider [Pholcus phalangioides] scurrying about repairing its web. It was so busy, it showed no signs of being disturbed that I came close enough with a mobile to get these pictures.
A bee so tiny it kept almost disappearing behind the stamens of the St John’s wort flower it was collecting pollen from. Possibly a bronze furrow bee [Halictus tumulorum].
Another butterfly taking advantage of the flowers of a buddleia bush. This time it was a red admiral, undisturbed even though I was only a few feet away with a camera.
Around here, meadow brown butterflies normally stay in the environment implied in their name: meadows and areas of long grass with wildflowers. So do their somewhat more reclusive relatives, gatekeepers.
This year, both species have been visiting some suburban gardens, admittedly only a few hundred yards direct flying distance from places they hang out every year.
This meadow brown is feeding from the flowers on a buddleia bush in one such garden. It’s a very short clip before the insect decided my mobile was getting to close, so it retreated to a higher flower out of range of filming distance. There had been a gatekeeper around, but it had adopted the more cautious strategy from the start.
A tiny caterpillar, something around half an inch long. It had somehow arrived on the back of a plastic garden chair, under cover, and was slowly making its way along the top of the chair back.
The species is normally a denizen of heathland. Perhaps it’s insinuating suburban gardens in areas where heather is popular.