Overwintering butterfly!

 

I have a butterfly in a jar. I found it in the attic bedroom. I wasn’t sure what it was when I first saw it, just sort of perched on the floor, wings folded, looking very black. It wasn’t there the day before. Was it a piece of plastic or something similar? No! A butterfly! In early February! Presumably it had flown in during the summer and had been hidden away somewhere.  It stayed in the same place for a day. I was plotting what to do with it but the next time I went up there it had moved - still perched, wings folded but in a different place. Still on the floor.

I didn’t want to vacuum it up by accident. In the end I caught it as I catch spiders: jar over the top, slide a card underneath. So now I have a butterfly in a jar but I don’t want to just throw it outside, as I do with spiders. It simply wouldn’t survive in the cold weather and there are no flowers with nectar for it. So I looked it up. 

The advice clearly refers to butterflies that are flapping about the place. Mine just opens and stretches its wings from time to time. 

“It is a problem for the concerned householder too. How best to help these poor confused butterflies and moths unwittingly tricked into thinking spring has come early. The best solution is to rehouse them into a suitable location. Catch the butterfly or moth carefully and place it into a cardboard box or similar, in a cool place for half an hour or so to see if it will calm down.

Once calmed down you might be able to gently encourage the sleepy creature out onto the wall or ceiling of an unheated room or building such as a shed, porch, garage or outhouse. Just remember that they will need to be able to escape when it awakens in early spring.

If you have no options at all for suitable hibernation places, then it would be best to keep the butterfly or moth as cool as possible, to minimise activity, and then to release it outside during a spell of nice weather.”

So think I might put my butterfly in a jar in the shed and when warmer weather comes along I’ll release him/her into the garden. 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!