A butterfly encounter ...



A green veined white  .

  This morning  I found a green veined white sitting on a bird feeder , not the safest place for it to be ,  so I moved it to the wild flower patch after taking a couple of photos . The appearance of this  butterfly takes the garden list up to about 16 species , about a quarter of the number of the British  total .  Catering for butterflies is usually easy :  provide them with food  from nectar bearing flowers such as sedum , ox eye daisy and knapweed  and also give them the food plants of their caterpillars , which is less easy for some gardeners to bear ! Announce a ban on pesticides and you have given them all they need . A good sized garden , well stocked with native plants could well attract between 15-25 species over a 2 year period . 
    The  wildflower patch , along with plenty of nectar plants has made seeing these flying jewels a regular pleasure in our patch .