Broken Wings

As I have previously posted, I was obsessed with nurturing my monarch flock over summer, with mixed success because of the invasive wasp population. But when the weather cooled the wasps left, the caterpillars sprang into action. At one stage I counted up to 35 chrysalises on and around my swan plant.
But alas, as my mother predicted, because they metamorphasized (morphed?) in the cooler weather, the chance of survival is slim for the butterflies. It's just too cold for them to hatch most of the time, and when they do, many are turning out munted.
Today being a milder day, I returned home to find five newly hatched butterflies floundering around under the bush. To protect them from the dogs, I transferred them to a nearby plant. Three looked OK, but two had trouble staying on, due to damaged or malformed wings. The prognosis for them is probably not good... but all five together provided the opportunity to take some sweet pics!

 












PS There were those I had previously rescued and brought inside, such as this chrysalis that fell on the ground and was then sellotaped to the bookshelf ... then hatched under my wondrous gaze... only to have a particular dog who shall not be named use it as a plaything when my back was turned...

Before .........................and after!