IT was John Keats who described Autumn as the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.
To enjoy fruit you do not need to eat it and it need not be mellow. This I discovered when I visited a friend's large orchard where some of the apples and pears were lying rotting on the ground. His hedgerows were full of over-ripe blackberries.
Each rotting fruit was a colourful hive of activity especially with butterflies which were drinking the sweet juices. Butterflies do not need "food" to grow because the caterpillar stage is the only period during which their body size increases. Like cars, however, they do need fuel to power their flight and bodily functions such as respiration.
On the fruit I identified wasps which I could well have done without but also several species of butterfly such as small tortoiseshell, peacock but with red admirals being the most common.
They really did make a colourful and spectacular sight.
If you have any fruit which looks past its best just put it out in the garden and even at this time of year you will find butterflies but also birds which also enjoy fruit.
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