Denzil

A memory of butterflies

Highlights from the butterfly summer of 2022

The summer of 2022 was a great summer for butterflies – at least it was for me! In our small garden attached to our ground floor apartment here in Belgium, I observed no fewer than 15 species of butterfly.

In addition to the “usual” garden butterflies such as the Whites, Red Admiral, Peacock, Comma, Brimstone etc., some unusual butterflies turned up. These included my first ever Mallow Skipper and Brown Hairstreak, and only the second Clouded Yellow I have ever seen! Brief appearances of a Common Blue, Holly Blue and Speckled Wood were also a delight, as well as a frequently visiting Swallowtail.

If you think we are living deep in the countryside or close to a rich nature reserve, we don’t! We live in the center of a small town in between the busy cities of Brussels and Leuven. But we have packed our small garden with lots of bee- and butterfly-friendly wild flowers!

Here are a few photos I managed to take of some of the butterflies in our garden.

Female Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus)
Mallow Skipper (Carcharodus alceae)
Green-veined White (Pieris napi)
Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)
Brown Argus  (Aricia agestis)
Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus)

How was 2022 for you in terms of butterflies? Did you see a lot, or some new species? It would be interesting to know if you did, what species, and where. Feel free to leave a comment below.

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