This is the gorgeous dark phase:
August 3, 2013 by retrieverman
Posted in wildlife | Tagged Eastern tiger swallowtail, tiger swallowtail | 2 Comments
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Mama loves butterflies! Wooooowooooooo, Ku
Beautiful in its restrained garb that swallowtail.
It is perfect for butterflies in our chiltern hills right now with so many chalkhill flowers due to all the rain, sun and warmth of this summer. Britain is on the edge of european butterfly habitat and climate change puts many of our species at risk, albeit some new ones are spreading from the mainland to compensate a little.
Sadly the big picture is British farming being bad for insects as a whole during the past half century, due to insecticide use and loss of flower pasture. Efforts are being made to attempt some reversal of this catastrophe: fields set aside, flower strips around fields, only minimal mowing of roadside verges etc. But will it be enough?