Beautiful Butterfly in the garden

Sitting in the sunshine yesterday, I noticed quite a large butterfly flitting between two outdoor pots that Karl had recently put outside. Both of them had been grown from seeds and had taken quite a few months to establish but are now looking quite healthy the leaves are glossy and shiny. One is an orange tree and the other is a lemon.

Curious as to what kind of butterfly I was looking at? I tried googling common garden butterflies in the UK. To my surprise there was absolutely nothing similar that I could find online so I then realised I would have to be much more descriptive in trying to research this particular type.

I googled large, black, white and orange butterfly flying between an orange and lemon tree. I was mildly surprised when the butterfly was identified as a citrus swallowtail which I understand is quite rare.  I was really curious as to why this beautiful little creature was so persistent flitting between the trees and so unafraid of me taking close-up photographs. It turns out she was laying her eggs and I actually had the privilege of seeing these tiny transparent milky white balls appearing near all the new shoots on the trees, I was mesmerised by nature. 

In contrast in a few days, weeks, months time I’m sure we will be cursing the caterpillars that will be eating all of new shoots and glossy leaves feeding their bellies and growing as quickly as possible ready for the next round of their life and the beauty of the butterfly will be forgotten. 

How true is this ‘we are captivated by something which later turn to dismay…’

What a world we live in!