AS summer wears on and most wild flowers begin to fade, this is when the Michaelmas daisy comes into its own and serves as a vital source of pollen for butterflies and bees, many of which are stocking up energy reserves prior to hibernation.
Belonging to the aster family, so familiar and widespread is the plant that it sometimes comes as a surprise to realize that it is not native but was introduced mainly from America centuries ago and is now naturalised throughout most of Britain in about a dozen different varieties and hybrids.
Nature Notes: A worrying lack of birds
The daisy can grow almost anywhere including railway embankments, gardens and rough unkempt sites where it adds a welcome touch of colour in late summer well into autumn.
In my garden I have two very sturdy daisies that reach five feet in height with massed flowers and act as magnets for butterflies and bees when there are very few sources of nectar available.
Nature Notes: An afternoon in the park
The photo shows a white butterfly imbibing nectar on a sunny morning. This species does not hibernate and will gradually die off by October, leaving chrysalids to spend the winter, ready to emerge next spring.
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