A few days ago, I walked past our carpobrotus succulent, and a cloud of butterflies wafted out of it.
There were at least fifty of them, swirling around me in gentle waft of colour.
I was completely, utterly enchanted. How often does a proper, fairy tale moment occur in our own backyards?
I don’t know what’s changed this year, but Sydney is full of butterflies. We normally only get cabbage moths in our garden, so seeing these coloured beauties en masse was a real treat.
The carpobrotus has thrived at our place – it began life as a single stem in a tiny pot from Bunnings in 2012, and has since grown into the large shrub in the photo below. It lives in two small terracotta bowls of potting mix – one that it was planted in, and the other which it overgrew. Pete waters it occasionally, but other than that, we leave it completely alone. It has attractive glossy green leaves for most of the year, then puts on this stunning display when the weather warms up…
Best of all, it’s now a butterfly sanctuary…
This variety is known as the Australian Painted Lady (it’s botanical name is Vanessa (Cynthia) kershawi – isn’t that fabulous?). It’s a native species, and quite small (about 5cm across)…
The underside of their wings are nearly as beautiful as the tops…
I spent a very happy hour sitting on our back deck with my Lumix camera, taking photos of the butterflies feeding. It was intriguing to watch them plunge their long proboscises into the yellow centres of the flowers, and then gently pulse their wings up and down as they sipped…
Another visitor to our yard was the Meadow Argus. These photos don’t do justice to this Australian native, which is actually far prettier in real life. It has a slight iridescent sheen that the camera couldn’t quite capture…
Each butterfly supped at its own flower, happily feeding side by side…
You can just see the blue shimmer on its body in this photo…
As I was watching, I noticed that the hoverflies were also big fans of the carpobrotus. They’re regular visitors to our garden and I love the way they hang in mid-air, deciding where to land…
They too were feeding on the nectar provided at the sanctuary…
This photo turned out particularly well – sharp enough to see the lacy detailing on the wings, as well as the teeny ant on the left…
Sometimes, I think our eyes get too big, and it’s easy to forget just how spectacular life can be, right outside our back door step.
Have a glorious weekend, lovely friends! ♥
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Gorgeous! The succulent is so pretty and huge! Lovely butterflies. Time seems to move slower when sitting and watching nature.
Truly enchanting Celia! What a treat!
You have so helped to make this a ‘glorious weekend’! Have worked so hard inside I better go ‘butterfly hunting’ in the morning :) ! Love them . . . perhaps they are visiting here also . . .
How wonderful Celia.
How magical! Your photos are truly beautiful!
How beautiful! I completely agree, we have such beauty and wonder right outside our doors x
We’ve had a butterfly invasion in Brissy too, it’s awesome! Great pics.
Nature rules! We have had loads of hoverflies this season, never seen so many.
What wonderful pictures. Thank you for sharing
Beautiful photos Celia
I like you. :) And your flowers and butterflies.
Glorious sight. Your photos are wonderful.
Hello there what a pretty story. Thank you. Butterflies have been in my life too this week. We drove to Coffs Harbour for the funeral of my Godson after which his two daughters released pretty blue and black butterflies. A couple of days after the funeral we visited the butterfly farm in Coffs and were enchanted by the peaceful little creatures flitting about. I came away with a delightful pictorial record. Yesterday we drove to Urunga about 50kms from Coffs and I walked out along the 1km wooden walkway to where the river meets the ocean. Hundreds of butterflies flew past me all along the walk from the mangroves. It was an extraordinary experience, they were heading for the ocean. The terrible tiredness that has surrounded my heart since the news of Jason’s death (of an accidental drug overdose) has lifted somewhat thanks to the gentle, colourful flutterings of butterfly wings.
Oh Sandy, I’m so sorry for your loss. I hope Jason’s family are all doing ok…xxx
Thank you Celia. His family, particularly my sister (his mother) are shattered. No parent should ever outlive their children, it’s just not the natural order of things. But then in the midst of such a terrible tragedy we have butterflies to remind us that beauty and wonderment are all around us.
How stunningly beautiful, yet what a fragile beauty.
Your butterflies look so happy in your garden…beautiful photos!
What a fantastic experience Celia, and wonderful photographs to let us share. There have been reports of lots of ladybugs in the UK but I haven’t experienced this. It’s getting too cold for bugs and beasties now but the squirrels are clearing the acorns in my garden (and burying some that they are unlikely to find again 😃).
Australian Painted Ladies are so pretty! We have also been exclaiming at the masses of butterflies we’ve had here in our little place in Brisbane too. We’ve had Orchard Swallowtails laying eggs on our mandarin, Cabbage White’s coming in to the remaining kale and yesterday I spent ages trying to photograph Caper White butterflies that were fluttering around a flowering creeper. As I’m typing, there are dozens of butterflies flittering around our neighbour’s cycad which I can see from where I sit. You are so right, there is so much beauty just outside our doors if we only open our eyes to that wonder. Thanks for such lovely photos! Meg:)
Fantastic photos, Celia! And you’ve just sorted something for me. A house in the next town to ours has this plant cascading down a retaining wall. For most of the year it is unremarkable, but when it flowers it looks amazing & I’ve always wondered what it is. Now I know.
Thank you for sharing your fairy tale moment, Celia. Your photos are magical! I love it when things like this happen, xo.
What a treat! You are right, we so often go about our day looking at everything in front of us without seeing a thing. Beautiful pictures both of the flowers and the loverly butterflies. I’m so happy you took the time to stop and enjoy!
Apparently clouds of butterflies were a common sight before the march of industrialised agriculture with its pesticides. I’ve always wanted to see one.
Celia it is the same here in Gippsland Country Victoria,I have been saying for a number of weeks now, that I cannot remember the last time that I have seen so many butterfly’s also bees never one or two the least 20 or more . Just watching tv and they showed how to do bread the way you have showed us no knead shame i could not get the recipe wish I had of taped it
Sally
What a lovely surprise, it’s virtually unheard of over here to have so many butterflies in one spot, lucky you! We noticed that the monarch’s are fewer and fewer every year, but this year I did notice that there were a few more.
How cool is that! The proverbial “pleasant surprise.” This summer, I made it a point to spend more time in my yard, enjoying it rather than just tending to it. I didn’t come across anything even close to a cloud of butterflies but I did notice a few visitors I’d not seen before, I’ll be on butterfly watch next year. :)
How beautiful! And I am so happy that their numbers are increasing.
Awesome! The photos are very beautiful!