Nectar point

At first I thought they were leaves fluttering down at random from the silver birches in the park, but then I looked more closely and realised that the brown marbled under-wings were those of the Red Admiral butterfly.  A handful of them have joined the bees I described in my last post in the search for nectar.  I consulted the butterfly book and found that towards the end of summer they will consume rotting fruit.  They also like to visit our Michaelmas daisies.

As the shade comes over our garden the warmth disappears from the daisies, but the butterflies know how to replenish themselves.  They fly up into our high hedge to catch the rays, settle, spread their wings and absorb as much of the solar energy as they need.  Then it's back down to the flowers, uncoiling their long tongues and getting that sugary stuff into their small bodies.  As a diabetic who can require glucose in emergencies I have sympathy with them.  Heat and light, food and flowers.  I need these too. 

Like this season's bees, they may not live much longer.  Some will hibernate over winter, some may migrate.  Most will die.  In spring some will emerge laying eggs on nettles, their food plant, and the process of metamorphosis will begin again.