Thursday 18 July 2013

A Scarce visitor to our garden!

We spotted this Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides podalinius) battling the gusty wind this afternoon.


It is only a scarce visitor to our garden as despite its name the butterfly is quite common.

This extract from Wikipedia gives more detail: (Full entry is here)

It is widespread throughout Europe with the exception of the northern parts. Its range extends northwards to Saxony and central Poland and eastwards across Asia Minor and Transcaucasia as far as the Arabian peninsula, India, and western China. A few specimens of the Scarce Swallowtail have been reported from central Sweden and the UK but they were probably only strays and not migrants. The scarcity of UK migrants is responsible for the English common name. In the Alps it can be found up to altitudes of 1600 m.

1 comment:

Diane said...

We usually have many of them around but I have not seen one this year! Have a good weekend, Diane