I was thrilled when cutting my grass paths yesterday to see a dozen or so Peacock butterflies rising up from the ground as I moved along. They were all on the ground, I guess drinking dew from the damp grass.
I've never seen so many before. Peacock butterflies used to be rare up here but have been spreading further north - they say due to global warming, and who am I to argue?
I like to think though that the changes I have made here in the last two years have helped. Nettles are vital to Peacocks, as they lay their eggs on the leaves and then the plant acts as the food source for the caterpillars, so no nettles, no Peacocks. In the new Puddock regime, I leave as much as I can uncut and so this year I had a bumper crop of nettles - loads of nettles, loads of Peacocks?
You can read more about these beautiful butterflies here: http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species.php?vernacular_name=Peacock
and there's a great page, showing the progressive arrival of them through the UK this spring: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/animals/springwatch/results/butterfly.shtml
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