Something that we rarely see in our small village in Abruzzo are glorious Swallowtail Butterflies.  In Italian they’re called il macaone and there are supposed to be 9 varieties across the country.

I’ve put their absence down to the caterpillars loving fennel & carrot and my neighbours being exemplary debuggers on their orto and smallholdings; perhaps the recent heatwave has meant their energy downtime has given a welcome lease of life to these gentle Swallowtails flitting through the high meadowland around Bascianella.  Now to find out where all the Hummingbird Moths have gone to which are normally plentiful but this year I haven’t seen one.