A narrow street rising from the sea in the Gulf of Pagasitikos in Greece, and in the flashbulb light for an instant something still brighter. I was returning from an unhurried breakfast by the water, but no naturalist is ever off-duty. Without a hint of conscious thought we interpret scanty information in a meaningful way – and sometimes we even get it right.
Swallowtail!
This is a butterfly the size of big man’s palm, a lavish yellow and with streamers extending from its tail. In England you can see them – with good luck and good timing – only in certain places in the Norfolk Broads. In Greece there was one just down the road from the baker’s.
I was looking at an exoticism that was not actually exotic: or at least, exotic only in the mind of an English wildlifer. It was a flying oxymoron: a commonplace treasure, a humdrum superstar, a homely jewel. A day or later, another swallowtail dropped onto the flowers growing in a pot in the seafront café and posed obligingly for a picture. British naturalists named this species the scarce swallowtail, for its extreme scarcity at home, and yet on the Pelion peninsular it wasn’t scarce at all.
Question: is a swallowtail lovelier in England or in Greece? Does scarce mean beautiful? Are rare things by definition lovelier than common things? I went to ponder these questions over a glass of ouzo.
Simon, as always interesting to read your articles and comments. A dilemma I also have as we watch these on the margins of Maggiore, where we have seen them over a number of years – leaving me to ponder whether an as unmet achieved uk sighting would be more rewarding?! Enjoy Greece and the pondering ouzo!
It is lovely if you found it to be so. And you clearly did!
And your conclusion Simon?
I have frequently pondered similarly. We have scarce swallowtails in the south of France, in huge numbers, on lavender and valerian. The local name is Flambé, presumably for the little flame on their tail. I suppose they are only scarce in the UK.
We see them here in the Puget Sound area starting in June. Always a delight to see!
It is called ‘scarce’, Simon, because it has been found very rarely in Britain although common in Europe. The most interesting thing to me is that from many aspects, while in hovering flight, it resembles a bird with a long beak – see my ‘Seeing Butterflies’, which is now available again at
Lucky person. I’ve never seen one. Even in Greece !
No, they’re no more beautiful, just way more memorable: like the kingfisher taking goldfish from our tiny garden pond, or the two occasions I flushed Woodcock from my small garden in west Cambridgeshire. All are indelible memories for a naturalist.
Thanks Simon for your perspectives on an otherwise insane world.
Scarcity and beauty aren’t linked in my opinion. The blackbirds in my garden that I see pretty much every day are as beautiful as the bullfinches I see once in a blue moon.
Obviously the rarity of the swallowtail in Great Britain makes it more of a treat to see them .
An interesting question. It put me in mind of a wonderful exhibition I saw in 2007. With lots of input from David Attenborough it was about the beautiful natural history art, in the 16th and 17th century, produced by Maria Sibylla Merian. It was entitled ‘Amazing Rare Things’. And most of the illustrations were very beautiful too!