Hello, hello, it’s good to see you! You’ve arrived right on time to join me for a walk. I’d also like to thank you, but we’re coming to that later. We’re in de Wieden again, part of the wetland nature reserve I’ve taken you to before. The path is a bit muddy but still walkable.
The landscape here has a limited colour palette at this time of year. There is the green of the grass and the blue of the sky (at least today).
But mainly it is, uhm, well, what would you call the colour of reed in winter? Tan, buff, sand, wheaten?
Yellow, golden, camel or brown? It depends very much on the light.
Here and there a spot of white is floating by…
… or standing still. It’s very quiet and peaceful, with just the honking of geese in the distance.
The only bright pops of colour come from the mosses and lichens.
And from the large copper.
Not a real one, obviously. It’s a felt large copper butterfly that travelled here in my inside jacket pocket. There are no real butterflies here in winter. Unfortunately, the large copper can’t be seen here in summer anymore either. It is still fluttering around in two nearby nature reserves, though, and my husband was able to take a few photos of it there last summer. It’s a vivid red-orange on top,
with white on the underside of its wings.
Beautiful, isn’t it? This particular species (Lycaena dispar batavus) doesn’t live anywhere else in the world anymore but in these two nature reserves. A precarious existence. It would be great if its habitat could be extended to the Wieden. Nature conservation organisation Natuurmonumenten is working hard to create the right circumstances for that to happen, protecting host plants and creating corridors for the large copper to fly along towards de Wieden.
By purchasing my Seventh Heaven scarf pattern, many of you have become supporters of their good work. I have now donated all of the proceeds from the pattern so far to Natuurmonumenten. On behalf of the large copper and Natuurmonumenten thank you so, so much for your contribution!
Links:
- Seventh Heaven scarf pattern on Ravelry
- The felt large copper is another of those lovely butterfly kits by Atelier Lindelicht
- More about Natuurmonumenten and De Wieden