A - Z Challenge 2015 - Butterflies 'W'

W - Wall, Large White

At this time in the Challenge I sometimes feel as though I am banging my head against a - 

Wall (Lasiommata megera)

Perhaps its Latin name should be Myheadius brickus! 

However this brown butterfly gets its name from its characteristic behaviour of resting with its wings two-thirds open on any bare surface, including bare ground and on walls, of course.

Wall on bare ground (and photo-bombed by my shadow)

Numbers have declined in previous years but the one on the knapweed and the one above were quiet happy to warm up in the North Yorkshire sun.

When I was a young boy it was common for us to catch and keep Cabbage Whites in a jar on the local allotments where they laid their eggs on cabbage leaves. The term Cabbage White is applied to several common white butterflies especially the Small and Large Whites which are very similar in appearance.

The caterpillars of the Large White are very colourful.

Large White Butterfly Caterpillar on a leaf

You can see quite clearly where it has eaten the edge away. It was my job to remove them from my Dad's cabbages before too much damage was done.

We expect to see white butterflies in early April each year. Despite their numbers I have never photographed one.

Large White (Pieris brassicae)

The female has the black spots on the wings - no spots means it a male.

I hope that I have added my own shot(s) to this before 'W' is posted - No such luck, no white butterflies seen this year yet.

Love is like a butterfly
As soft and gentle as a sigh
The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings
Love makes your heart feel strange inside
It flutters like soft wings in flight
Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing

I feel it when you're with me
It happens when you kiss me
That rare and gentle feeling that I feel inside
Your touch is soft and gentle
Your kiss is warm and tender
Whenever I am with you I think of butterflies

Love is like a butterfly
The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings
Love makes your heart feel strange inside
It flutters like soft wings in flight
Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing

Your laughter brings me sunshine
Every day is spring time
And I am only happy when you are by my side
How precious is this love we share
How very precious, sweet and rare
Together we belong like daffodils and butterflies

Love is like a butterfly
As soft and gentle as a sigh

Photo attributions:

• Large White Butterfly Caterpillar: 6 August 2014, by Michael Palmer - CC BY-SA 4.0
• Large White Butterfly (Pieris brassicae): 10 July 2006, geograph.org.uk, by Anne Burgess - CC BY-SS 2.0

A-Z Challenge 2013 - 'C' Chaffinch ...

My A-Z posts this year are based on my garden – flowers, animals, the birds and the bees, butterflies - with a bit of poetry thrown in. For some letters I am expecting to cheat somewhat – a sort of wish they were here.

C - Chaffinch, Clematis, Cabbage White, Canterbury Bell 

It’s not just for A-Z that we can say,

Oh to be in England

Now that April’s there.

Chaffinch

 And whoever wakes in England

Sees, some morning unaware

That the lowest bough and the brushwood sheaf

Round the elm tree hole are in tiny leaf

While the chaffinch sings on ordered bough

In England now!

Chaffinch

When it comes to climbing plants not many will say they will wear purple when they grow old . Here’s one that tries every year.

Clematis

  Purple and green the clematis
Leans down my lady's mouth to kiss.

 Meanwhile:

The butterfly, a cabbage-white

(His honesty of flight)

Will never now, it is too late,

Master the art of flying straight,

Cabbage White butterfly

  Is it him I wonder who has changed these flowers from blue to white?

Canterbury Bells

 I think the Canterbury bells are playing little tunes.

Poems:

• Oh to be in England – Robert Browning
• A Song of Clematis – Ethel Clifford
• Flying Crooked – Robert Graves
• Madonna of the Evening Flowers – Amy Lowell