Saturday 25 March 2023

Spot the (Sutton Hoo) Dragon


We returned to NT Sutton Hoo this afternoon and looked in the wood to see how the bluebells are coming along. You can see the green shoots behind Spot the Dragon. Some years we have seen these wonderful flowers attracting Orange-tip butterflies, showing off nature's complementary colours in the best of ways; though I cannot help wondering why there should be such contrast when (surely) camouflage, i.e. a flower and butterfly of the same shade, would afford more protection from predators. 

And by the way, we have at last seen our first butterfly of 2023; a Small Tortoiseshell on 21 March. This seems very late for back in 2004 when we were still living in Swansea, two butterflies alighted on our rockery on a snowy Valentine's Day. I wrote a Haiku to mark the event:

St Valentine’s Day –
butterflies hug the heather,
snow kisses the lawn


Looking across the River Deben to Woodbridge



 


2 comments:

Ragged Robin said...

Love Spot the Dragon and the haiku lines. We did have a Red Admiral in the garden and I had a fleeting glimpse of a butterfly in Coleshill recently but I haven't seen any Brimstones.

Caroline Gill said...

No, no brimstones for me either, RR. Here's hoping! And thank you for your kind comment. It rather looks as though Spot has measles!