The Fruiz Butterfly Walk
Around 30 of us met up beside the new butterfly garden near the fronton in Fruiz on Saturday 7th October as part of the European Heritage Days. The theme this year was “Living Landscapes” and in Fruiz the focal point was the butterfly garden that we made as part of Zerynthia`s Butterfly Oasis initiative to create gardens to help butterflies.
After explaining the importance of wild flowers for pollinators we spent three hours walking round the landscapes of Fruiz, enjoying the beautiful weather and countryside. Robins everywhere! There were numerous stops to explain various things of interest but one of the highlights was when we were treated to local culinary products at one of the local farms in Botiolas. Just before this two of the neighbours joined us to talk about the changes they have seen in the local landscape.
As we have said, the weather was lovely which meant that although it`s now October, there were numerous butterflies: small white, large white, green-veined white, cleopatra, meadow brown, small heath, geranium bronze, clouded yellow, small copper, red admiral, peacock, and long-tailed blue. And one of the younger members of the group proved very effective in catching them! We also were lucky to see a roe-deer jumping across the fields.
All in all, a wonderful outing and many of the group ended up eating in the local Herriko Taberna. Let`s hope we can repeat the experience next spring when we can enjoy the meadow flowers too. Thanks a lot Fruiz and to all the people who came from far and wide to take part. It was a real pleasure to be with people who showed so much interest!