The other night at home, there was a dark moth fluttering around the ceiling light. Idly wondering what it might be, I waited for it to settle – which it eventually did, in a most unmothlike manner. It was a butterfly, a Speckled Wood – and having one of those in the house was certainly a first for me. I’ve no idea how or why it got in – Speckled Woods don’t hibernate, so it wouldn’t have been looking for a place to settle for the winter… A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of introducing a Speckled Wood to someone who’d never seen – or never noticed – one before. A specimen had settled near at hand to bask – they’re the most approachable, even friendly, of butterflies and seem positively to court human admiration. We duly admired – she for the first time – this beautiful butterfly, the very embodiment of dappled sunlight in a woodland ride (which used to be about the only place to see them until they extended their range to parks and gardens and just about everywhere). Gerard Manley Hopkins, when glorifying God for dappled things, might have given the Speckled Wood a mention…
I don’t know what became of the one that turned up in my front room – it was gone the next morning. I hope it flew off into what was a mellow autumn day. And I wish I’d been out there with it – rather than stuck in the office, chafing and pining for the outdoors. Now, of course, it’s raining…
Nige, obviously at our latitude we suffer from a butterfly famine, however what we do find is that one particular form of Buddleia attracts far more butterflies than any other, ‘Lochinch’ a beauty with silver grey leaves and highly scented. Out of the ten or so Buddleia in the garden this one in particular acts as a magnet.
Ah, there can never be enough references to Gerard Manley Hopkins. We have a buddleia and our three cats spend much of their time sitting underneath it and jumping up into the branches when the butterflies come. Bastards.
I’d never seen a Speckled Wood before I moved ‘down south’ to Gloucester. But once there I found them one of the most numerous and most appealing little butterflies.
And one of the most variable too. The ‘white’ speckling in particular ranged from almost white, through cream and ivory to downright yellow. This is partially seasonal but there is also at least one sub species.
If you want Speckled Woods around then what you need to do is just leave a little long ‘wild’ grassland in the garden.
Now in my banishment to this Pompous Land I don’t see them. Mind you if they were around the 2 species of Mantis would snaffle them in the blink of an eye anyway.
lots and lots of speckled woods in cornwall!! Saw a lovely healthy late Comma in my garden today that really made my heart soar!
Great stuff Worm – I envy you! I’ve seen nothing since the day the weather turned…