butterfly houses

[Anne Kilmer]

Nigel Venters wrote:
> 
> I also don't think we need worry! The butterflies have more sense than
> humans it seems.
> They are no more likely to choose one of these "houses" in the wrong spot
> than they are to choose an unsuitable natural place to overwinter.
> 
I made a fool of myself once trying to rescue a bunch of small
tortoiseshells that had settled picturesquely into some fishnet
decorations in the sweater factory in Tourmakeady (Ireland). I thought
they would prefer to be outdoors, not realizing that, in late August,
they had settled into spots to spend a pleasant winter. And there they
would remain, beautiful and sleepy, until spring. 
I thought I should shoo them outdoors. The Irish are too polite to
straighten out a pushy tourist; they knew the butterflies would just
come back inside as soon as I went away. 
What I like about these silly butterfly houses is that their owners are
trying to  do something nice for nature. It's a start. Sentimental, and
as long as you have a problem when you get wasps instead of butterflies,
you don't really have the big picture, do you? But at least it suggests
that we might make room for some critters in our gardens. 
Given the grandeur and horror of nature it's a bit lame to be nice to
it, but we might keep a few of the species we're hot on exterminating
... I'd like that. 

>  Anne Kilmers shed with the broken window is favorite for me. A favorite
> "unatural" choice in UK is very old churches. (So they are useful for
> something anyway!)
> Nigel Venters

I may have ruined my own Irish tool shed as a butterfly hibernaculum,
when I roofed it in Perspex (transparent roofing material) ... will they
mind it being so light in there? It'll be dry and warm. 
Oddly, the ruined churches in my neck of the woods are fairly recent
Protestant ones. The locals didn't care for them much. We supposed them
old, but not so. 
Anne Kilmer
South Florida