This last week to 10 days, i have had a few WLH garden sightings, but most of them were the usual tree top/dueling males, so only long distant photos captured. A one point, i would say 3 to possibly 4 individuals were seen at once..............that was until the 9/7/16!
I was almost out the door, when from my front room window, i saw one fly past and land on my lawn! I quickly grabbed my camera, ran outside, and captured several shots of what looked like a fresh female. The wind was quite strong, so the butterfly was struggling a bit. Since i was already late for an appointment (my wife was shouting "get a move on") I left home, and didnt return until some hours later. The time was approx 11.30 am.
At approx 4.30pm, i went outside to check the garden/lawn area, and found a dead WLH??!! It was deep into the grass, an i had to almost prise it out from the roots. It looked like a female, probably the very same female i had seen some 5 hours previous?
The butterfly looked to be in good shape, but its head was missing, wings were intact, but body damaged too.
Im really stumped as to what happened to this WLH...was it predated by another insect?...A bird would have eaten it whole.
I do have 2 Dogs, and the small female Jack Russll did eat one last year...but she ate that whole, i doubt my dog could have the skill to just remove a Butterflies head. Maybe my dog stunned/killed the butterfly, then a possible insect of some sort preyed on the dead butterfly???
As i say, Im stumped on this...When i left home, the dogs were kept in the house(as usual) i only let the dogs out when i returned home.
The butterfly was alive when i left, but i then found a dead butterfly when i returned home...was it the same WLH? i think it might have been, it also looks like a female...and just how many female WLH's do i expect to find in my garden, on the same day??
An image of the WLH (very much alive) on my lawn. Image is not cropped.
Cheers Paul.