Ian Pratt wrote:Padfield wrote:It's unusual to find fresh. dead butterflies, except by the side of roads, where sadly they can be quite common. I think the specimen you have photographed, Keith, was probably struck by a car. I have seen even near misses wind butterflies so much that they cannot fly for quite a while. Further evidence that your butterfly was killed swiftly by something extraneous like a car is the position of its wings. When butterflies die 'naturally' they typically fold the wings the other way, beneath the body.
It's amazing to me how very few dead animals, butterflies or otherwise, one comes across in nature. Thousands must die every day in every meadow, park and wood yet it is all incredibly discreet - apart from those killed by human (or their pets') activity.
Guy
I think you have confused me with Keith. I took the photos. Best wishes. Ian
Definite confusion. Ian takes much better photos than I do and I certainly don't deserve credit for them!....
With regards to my corpses, my garden is well away from the roadside so I don't think they were road-kill. However, both had their wings set back in the "reflex" position as you describe. I had not considered this before, but this is how I always find the occasional butterflies that get into our greenhouse, get caught in the shade netting and then roast before the missus or I can rescue them.
I think the reason I came across the dead un's is that there are just so many of the butterflies about. I found them blowing around on my tiled terrace around where the Buddleias are. I reckon they came down for one last sun-bathe before popping their tiny little clogs.
I still have more live 'un's then dead un's though. Caught these three regulars sun-bathing this morning....
If Vince M is right about the 3 week life span, I guess I need to enjoy these while I can!