Friday, July 17, 2020

Some privacy, please!

I love butterflies.  I recently heard a character on a television programme describe them as, "Worms with wings."  And I suppose they are, really, but I still think they are beautiful.  A favourite butterfly from my childhood is the Cabbage White (Pieris rapae).  They were frequent visitors to the nasturtiums and stock that my mother had planted outside the living room window and could be spotted all summer long fluttering over the lawn from flowerbed to flowerbed.
The cabbage white is so named because it is rather fond of all cruciferous vegetables.  Too fond, actually.  This small butterfly is probably one of the most successful invasive species on the planet.  Having been spread from Europe to all over the globe (by human travel mostly), it is considered a very worrisome pest when it comes to agricultural crops.
There are a lot of cabbage whites around Vinoland right now, they seem to be especially partial to hanging around a few stands of mallow that are flowering.  Problem is, for me, they don't alight with their wings open (unlike the Pipevine Swallowtail and Common Buckeye) and they are constantly flitting to and fro, so they are hard to photograph.  And that's why I disturbed the privacy of this couple (wings closed, but stationary), who were busy working on producing a whole new generation of mustard munching caterpillars.  Sorry, don't mind me.  Carry on.

4 comments:

New Hampshire Wineman said...

I didn't realize this butterfly is European!
It was a butterfly that first inspired me to buy a camera. I think you know I love them too!
Monarch

It's been a long time since I've used this link-maker, and I hope it was successful.

Vinogirl said...

NHW: The link worked fine.

Fun to see that we have both photographed monarch caterpillars:
http://vinsanity-vino.blogspot.com/2015/04/frasscinating.html

And look at you, looking all like Stefanos Tsitsipas. Must be a Greek thing :)

New Hampshire Wineman said...

Hehe!

Vinogirl said...

NHW: Now I'm craving a glass of a nice, crisp Assyrtiko!