The Elusive Monarch Butterfly

Fantastic Bathgate - I have not seen a Monarch but I have seen the Swallowtail - so delicate and so beautiful

Great photo's Paul, its a lovely butterfly isn't it, thats your Milkweed plant doing its job...I got all excited last week when I saw a Peacock flying around the garden, pleased to say I've since seen more and some Whites, even saw a ladybird on Monday,used to have hundreds every year but this was only the second one this year...

Lovely photos :) hardly any butterflies at all here this summer. I did have one in my greenhouse today, but its rare to see one. Very sad.

Marvellous blog. Thank you for sharing.
Its the neighbours using weed sprays that are killing them off.
All we can do is sow plants that encourage them.

Goodness Bathgate, its a lot bigger than I'd imagined!

Not many neighbours into gardening round here but still few butterflies. I never thought I'd be relieved to see a pair of small whites assessing my cabbages yesterday!
Not even any speckles woods and we've normally had lots of those.

Beautiful,I have only had one in my garden this year.

What a beautiful butterfly. I've only seen cabbage whites so far this year, even though I have lots of plants the butterflies have enjoyed in the past. I do miss their beautiful colours.

Lovely to see - thanks Paul. Keep feeding her!

Thanks everybody for your comments. I'm happy to share this with you. I just read a report that populations of Monarchs have arrived in Great Britain, France, Belgium & Holland. That's certainly good news!

The Monarch invasion of Great Britain
http://www.butterfly-guide.co.uk/help/monmig.htm

Wow, that's interesting? Not many sightings but its a start! I looked at the map and they were all on the south coast about 100 miles south of here. Perhaps another year...

The populations are fairly large and growing, so surely another year.

It's beautiful. I hope they survive.

I'll certainly keep my fingers crossed, hardly seen any this year despite lots of flowering plants. All I've seen is a couple of admirals, small whites & meadow browns.

I've seen very few, not like years ago when they were as common as grass.

We've only had a Painted Lady, small Tortoiseshell, large Whites, one Red Admiral and Brimstones . . . far fewer than most years, which is so sad. (oh, and a Marbled White!).

Its quite a list though Sheila - some beauties there.

Painted Ladies are spectacular Sheila, I'm not familiar with the others you mentioned. I'll have to look those up. I'm glad to know there are at least a few around. There is hope, lol

I have seen 4 today Bath while walking my dogs. No doubt beachgoers sunning themselves along the New Jersey shore are seeing the Canadian monarchs fly by since the migration has started from there. Our mid Atlantic ones should be packing their bags late August along with the hummers.

That's good news Loose. Thanks for the update.

Again this morning 3 monarchs flying about in my garden. Last year I don't recollect seeing any so I think there has been a bit of a rebound....BUT.... intrusion into their feeding sites and their wintering grounds continues from logging and housing-industrial development both in and out of the country. I understand that people need jobs and have to feed their families and this is what this creature is succumbing to as well as many others. I don't think that the end will be extinction but lower numbers will be the new norm. I will not blame an economic system or a particular social framework on it, many people have a hair trigger for that kind of blame, it's just that most of the world lives in a condition of poverty and they really don't care about a butterfly unless they can find someway to eat it or if it prevents them from putting a roof over their head-someway way to eradicate it. This is true in the USA too. I suggest that the next time one travels from point A to point B anywhere in the world, take a good look, a really good look, at what is in between and how people are living.

I hope you are right Loose. It would be a tragedy to loose this iconic insect. I know there are several groups throughout the US whose sole purpose is to plant milkweed and restore their natural habitat. Milkweed itself is fairly resilient.

This morning we found three (three!) caterpillars on my Prunus kojo-no-mai . . . discovered it to be the larva of the Grey Dagger Moth which is very beautiful. So we are feeding them to keep them alive!

That's awesome, I just googled grey dagger moth - they're amazing!

Just looked it up too - what a very pretty caterpillar. I will keep an eye on Kojo no Mai just in case!

Crikey! Seems they aren't too fussy, look at all the food plants it's known to eat (I looked it up too).

Acer – Norway maple
Aegopodium – ground-elder
Alnus – alder
Amelanchier
Betula – birch
Corylus – hazel
Cotoneaster
Crataegus – hawthorn
Malus – apple
Photinia – red robin
Populus – poplar
Prunus
Pyrus – pear
Quercus – oak
Rosa – rose
Rubus – bramble
Salix – willow
Sorbus
Spiraea
Tilia – lime
Ulmus – elm

Yes - quite a list, isn't it Gf? Perhaps they are more widespread than we thought.

What's surprising is that the caterpillar is so difficult to see . . . we had a good look after the first one and thought it was the only one. Then 10 minutes later spotted another - and we were SURE there weren't any more, then suddenly another appeared! (and they are bright yellow and black!)