Undercarriage down, preparing to land

Seeing a Swallowtail butterfly in Italy is always a shock. They are just so big:

The Parco della Murgia Materana is full of them. There’s the scent of Thyme as we walk through the dry fields. It’s as if we’re intruding on someone’s herb garden.

I attempt a photograph of a Swallowtail in flight:

It has all six legs dangling ready to catch hold of this flower. What an amazing feat of natural engineering.