Heroes Not Zombies

Butterflies never cease to amaze me. Their lifecycle is one of the most strange and hard to understand in the whole of nature. The fact that this form only exists for a small part of the entire life of this creature (most of it spent as a caterpillar, then pupa, before emerging restructured as a butterfly) is really astonishing.

But what else amazes me is the way they fly….apparently completely randomly, and utterly unpredictably, yet really fast, covering huge areas of the garden in seconds. They just don’t fly like other insects or like birds. How do they actually manage to fly so skilfully? And why do they seem to fly so randomly? It’s only February here in South West France, but yesterday I watched two large yellow butterflies flying around the garden. I can watch them for ages, trying to predict where they will go next. It’s impossible.

The third thing that amazes me about them is the patterns and colours on their wings. Yes, some species are pretty plain, but other look like complete works of art – like the speckled wood butterfly, pictured here, at the top of this post.

They are symbols of transformation, and they inspire thoughts about unpredictability, and the importance of following non-linear paths in life. And they also delight me because they are beautiful.

They make a day a good day!