Butterflies
Thu. October 1, 2015
It’s been a disappointing year for butterflies in the garden; mostly small tortoiseshell and cabbage whites and the odd moth. I grew nicotiana sylvestris from seed this year. I’ve always admired this tall, elegant plant and wanted to grow it near the house to scent the courtyard outside the kitchen in the evening; I was ignorant of their attraction to moths so the arrival of so many in the late summer was an added bonus. Our new vegetable patch provided us with some delicious broccoli. I spent hours, carefully picking caterpillars off the florets before it was cooked. Because I wasn’t sure whether the caterpillars were the larvae of some exotic or rare butterfly, I carefully put them back in the garden only to find within forty eight hours the glorious Cavalo Nero kale, which I’d raised and tended throughout the summer, looked like skinny winter trees! The cabbage whites got the better of me this year but I shall be studying images of caterpillars with great care in 2016. These wonderful photographs were taken by Nigel McCall owner of Towy Works (the place to buy your building supplies) and talented photographer. His glorious images will be the subject of the Aberglasney 2016 calendar