The Kgalagadi desert’s butterflies featured in this post resonate with two posts from last year reflecting on resilience and fragility (symbolised by desert flowers) and the need for hope (symbolised by butterflies). It is just over a year since South Africa recorded its first confirmed case of Covid-19 and those posts were in response to the burgeoning uncertainty and fear as the pandemic’s inexorable infection rates escalated across the world.
Continue reading “Butterflies of the Great Thirstland”Hope can be a powerful force that sustains us through dark days and times of hardship. Many of us lean towards trusting in the possibilities for a better future as uncertainty, anxiety, fear, suffering, grief and hardship envelop the globe in these times of the Covid-19 pandemic. Continue reading “On the wings of hope”
Although butterflies, including citrus swallowtails, are particularly prolific in autumn, I was surprised to see a small group of butterflies gathering together while they sucked up moisture on the lawn. Even more surprising – I was able to get some photos of them as they were keen on returning to the same patch as they flitted about. Continue reading “Citrus swallowtail butterflies, a caterpillar and an agama too”
Butterflies are widely appreciated for their beauty and their fleetness on the wing, as much as they are associated with transformation, hope, joy and love. Continue reading “Butterflies – Reasons to be cheerful”
Members of a subfamily of gossamer-winged butterflies known as “the blues” are common in our garden. It is only when they open their wings that their blue colouration is revealed. Although these butterflies are small – in the region of about one inch across from wingtip to wingtip – their markings can be intricately detailed. Continue reading “The blues is alright: Butterflies and flowers”
The African dog rose is usually admired for its flowers, but it also plays host to many small creatures, including a species of butterfly, enabling it to complete its life cycle from egg to adult. Surprising as it was to find one plant sustaining so much life, it surprised me more that it sustained so much interest in me. Continue reading “Blood-red Acraea butterfly: A complete life cycle in one shrubby tree”
Even those who don’t like caterpillars tend to like butterflies, perhaps forgetting that caterpillars are the larvae of butterflies? Continue reading “Take me to your Commodore: Garden butterflies from the African savannahs”