Photo Blog

I love observing nature through the changing seasons both in my Norfolk wildlife garden and the surrounding countryside. I blog about wildlife gardening as well as about Norfolk butterflies, wildflowers and other flora and fauna that I come across. Bookmark my Norfolk nature photo blog to keep up to date with my photographic adventures.

An Aberration!

A Small Tortoiseshell aberration semiichnusoides butterfly showing merged costal black spots and white marginal streaks instead of blue studs on the forewing and missing the orange band on the hindwings

Our hot late June summer weather didnt last too long, and perhaps could be deemed an aberration in its own right, but it also seems to have had a major impact on our caterpillars while they metamorphosed into butterflies.

I got curious when I spotted this unusually marked Small Tortoiseshell butterfly and discovered a strange world of genetics and temperature driven body chemistry!

It takes about 4 weeks for a caterpillar to metamorphose into an adult butterfly in a fascinating “black box” process that science still knows surprisingly little about.

The term for a butterfly with these atypical variations in markings is “an aberration”, which stems from the latin aberrationem, literally meaning “a wandering”. First used in the 1590s, the modern meaning of “a deviation from the normal type” is attested by 1735.

It turns out that both genetics and abnormal weather (and perhaps even the two in combination) can play a role in triggering these deviations. Aberrations are caused when something interrupts the usual pattern of markings during their development inside the butterfly’s chrysalis. One hypothesis is that sudden temperature “shocks” (in either direction) may trigger melanin release (a dark pigment) to increase or decrease.

Another possibility is the activation of rare inherited “recessive” DNA genes (a gene that requires both parents to have it to be activated) that are atypical because they hinder the chances of an individual finding a mate, or even surviving under normal conditions. They continue however to be carried in the population because they may perhaps aid survival in abnormal conditions.

One example of this is the better known aberration - the dark brown“Valezina” form of the Silver-washed fritillary quite often seen now at Holt at Foxley Woods. Valezina, due to its dark colouration is more able to fly and find nectar in unusually cool temperatures than its typical bright orange counterpart, but which may then be at a disadvantage when it comes to finding a mate and reproducing due to being less readily recognised.

Whether the sudden temperature change we saw at the end of June activated a dormant gene relating to surviving with abnormal weather or coincidentally acted directly on melanin production remains one of the fascinating mysteries of nature.

Small Tortoiseshell Aglais urticae (normal type) vs Small Tortoiseshell (aberration semiichnusoides). Both butterflies are likely to be siblings as they were hosted as caterpillars on my nettle bed and appeared fresh on the same day together.

Last Butterflies of the season

What was probably my last butterfly shoot of 2022 happened one evening in beautiful golden light when I spotted not one but four female Common Blue butterflies settling down to roost in a very small strip of our wildflower meadow that we’d decided for the first time was mature enough to leave uncut over winter.

It was a timely reminder to me that the less we humans do to intervene, “control” and “manage” things and the more we resist the urge to “tidy up”, the better chance wildlife has to thrive in our man-made garden, park and urban environments.

Butterflies in particular are vulnerable to disturbance at pretty much any time of year as their eggs, caterpillars or pupae lifestages may all be needing to shelter amongst or feed on plants even when adults are not on the wing. If at all possible, its a good idea to try to leave a section of meadow untouched for a full twelve month cycle at any one time to allow larval stages to overwinter successfully undisturbed.

Nature just isn’t a tidy phenomenon, its chaotic and unpredictable. But the innate human desire for what is ultimately a false sense of control is a perennial urge played out in our gardens and very hard to resist, especially when accompanied by societal pressures of convention and fashion. Over the years this along with the globalisation of plant production resulted in the creatiion of a modern aesthetic that is surprisingly wildlife unfriendly from an ecological perspective, with large showy double blooms with little nectar to offer pollinators, exotic non-native flowers that can’t be used as host plants and monoculture green-baize lawns doused in weedkiller to prevent even a daisy or dandelion, and these days, a great deal of hard landscaping too.

Thankfully the emergence of the wildlife-friendly gardening trend and greater awareness of envirnomental issues is gradually encouraging the development (and revival) of more naturalistic planting schemes and is evolving that traditional aesthetic towards more sympathetic wildlife-friendly designs such as prairie style and cottage-garden planting, low mow flowering lawns and the inclusion of mini wildflower meadows and even wildlife ponds.

After all, who wants a dull old bowling green lawn when the reward is enjoying beautiful wildlife sights like these little roosting butterflies instead!

The Fifth And Most Beautiful Season

The sight of a Common Darter dragonfly perching on Purple Loosestrife is a sure sign that autumn is just around the corner …

Its funny how you intuitively sense the turning of the seasons even before anything obvious has actually changed. Its like a little pause as nature takes its breath before things transition.

The days are calm, its still hot and sunny, storms have yet to arrive; yet things are somehow imperceptibly different. Maybe the light is softer and more golden, maybe a dew appears, maybe you notice a spiders web, or dusk arriving that little bit earlier.

German writer Kurt Tucholsky called this magical, all-too-brief hiatus between summer and autumn the “Fifth season”. Ironically, Tucholsky lived during a period of transition himself -becoming a major literary figure during the turbulent Weimar period in Germany and being one of the first writers to have books burned when Hitler came to power. I couldn’t find an English translation so I’ve attempted a rough side-by-side translation of his poem below (my German translation scores at uni were always lousy, so please forgive any linguistic clumsiness).

For me nothing evokes this “fifth season” like the sight of Small Copper butterflies dancing amongst the beautiful magenta Purple Loosestrife flowerspikes that encircle my wildlife pond, and crimson Common Darters waging their ariel battles and hovering in tandem above the water. Such a beautiful, yet ephemeral sights …

“One morning you smell autumn. It is not yet cold; it is not yet windy;
nothing actually has changed at all - and yet everything has.”
— Kurt Tucholsky, 1890-1935

Die Fünfte Jahreszeit - Kurt Tucholsky

Wenn der Sommer vorbei ist und die Ernte in die Scheuern gebracht ist, wenn
sich die Natur niederlegt, wie ein ganz altes Pferd, das sich im Stall hinlegt,
so müde ist es - wenn der späte Nachsommer im Verklingen ist und der frühe
Herbst noch nicht angefangen hat - dann ist die fünfte Jahreszeit.

Nun ruht es. Die Natur hält den Atem an;
an andern Tagen atmet sie unmerklich
aus leise wogender Brust. Nun ist alles vorüber: geboren ist, gereift ist, gewachsen ist, gelaicht ist, geerntet ist - nun ist es vorüber.

Nun sind da noch die Blätter und die Sträucher,
aber im Augenblick dient das zugar nichts; wenn überhaupt in der Natur ein Zweck verborgen ist: im Augenblicksteht das Räderwerk still. Es ruht.

Mücken spielen im schwarzgoldenen Licht, im Licht sind wirklich schwarze Töne,
tiefes Altgold liegt unter den Buchen, Pflaumenblau auf den Höhen ... kein Blatt
bewegt sich, es ist ganz still. Blank sind die Farben, der See liegt wie gemalt,
es ist ganz still. Ein Boot, das flußab gleitet, Aufgespartes wird dahingegeben - es ruht.

So vier, so acht Tage - Und dann geht etwas vor. Eines Morgens riechst du den Herbst. Es ist noch nicht kalt; es ist nicht windig; es hat sich eigentlich gar nichts geändert - und doch alles.

Noch ist alles wie gestern: Die Blätter, die Bäume, die Sträucher ... aber nun ist alles anders....Das Wunder hat vielleicht vier Tage gedauert oder fünf, und du hast gewünscht,
es solle nie, nie aufhören... Spätsommer, Frühherbst und das, was zwischen ihnen
beiden liegt. Eine ganz kurze Spanne Zeit im Jahre.

Es ist die fünfte und schönste Jahreszeit.

The Fifth Season - Kurt Tucholsky

When summer is over and the harvest brought into the barns, when nature lies down like an old horse that lies down in the stall,
it is so tired - when the late
days of summer are waning and early autumn has not yet arrived - that is
the fifth season.

Now it rests. Nature holds its breath;
on other days it breathes imperceptibly
from a gently heaving chest. Now everything is over: born, ripened, grown, spawned, harvested - now it is over.

Now the leaves and bushes are still there,
but in an instant that turns to nothing;
if there is a purpose hidden in nature at all: for a second the gears stand still. It rests.

Midges play in black-golden light, in the light are really black tones,
deep antique gold lies under the beeches, plum-blue in the canopy … no leaf
stirs, it is completely still. The colours are bold, the lake is as if painted,
it is completely still. A boat that glides downstream,
What is stored up is released - it rests.

So four, so eight days - and then something happens. One morning you smell autumn. It is not yet cold; it is not yet windy; nothing actually has changed at all - and yet everything has.

Everything is still like yesterday: the leaves, the trees, the bushes … but now everything is different …. The wonder has lasted maybe four days or five, and you have wished
it would never ever end…late summer, early autumn and that which lies between them both. A whole short span of time in the year.

It is the fith and most beautiful season.

Seeing Small Copper butterflies in my wildlife garden is another hint that autumn is on its way.

Which White? - A Photographic Identification Guide to White Butterflies

How To Identify White Butterflies

One of the hardest common butterfly species to identify accurately are white butterflies, especially when first starting out. It can be awkward to compare distinguishing features of butterflies using guide books, where each butterfly species usually has its own separate dedicated section. This article uses side-by-side “real-life” comparison photos of “confusion” species taken from similar angles, including images of faded individuals, to help “get your eye in” and identify which white butterfly you saw.

In the UK, the “Whites” family Pieridae actually encompasses 5 white and 2 yellow butterflies. They can be tricky to identify because from a distance many of the white butterfly species look very similar, often fly at the same time, in the same habitat and even in some cases use the same caterpillar host plants. I’ve omitted the Wood White here as its extremely rare. Being the smallest and flimsiest of the Pieridae family, it’s very local and not resident in Norfolk.

Its All About The Closed Hindwing

Probably the best method for identifying Pieridae butterflies is to start with the underneath of the hindwings. First, use any patterns to eliminate or identify Green-veined Whites, Orange-tips, and Brimstones and then look at the upper side of the forewing to differentiate between the Large White and Small White. Of course, this relies on getting a good look or photo from both angles and butterflies don’t always oblige!

On closer inspection, the underside of the hindwings of “white” butterflies are anything but! The Green-veined White butterfly has a beautiful powdery green-grey veining (when viewed close up, these are actually a combination of black and yellow scales) set on a milky background whereas the Orange-tip butterfy sports a bold, mottled dark green-yellow wing underside pattern against a crisp white base.

The greenish-white leaf shape of the Brimstone female is also uniquely distinctive, the lemon yellow of the male Brimstone even more so, not to mention their vivid reddish maroon-coloured antennae and shoulder rim.

The Green-veined White butterfly has green-grey powdery markings along its closed underwing veins on a cream coloured background

Female Brimstone butterfly on leaf

The female Brimstone is greenish white, with a leaf-like appearance, an overall “boxier” shape and bright maroon antennae and shoulder.

The Orange-tip butterfly has dark green-yellow mottling on its underwings against a cool white.

Both Large and Small White butterflies have largely plain, creamy coloured underwing and a similar wingshape.

Identifying Small White And Large White Butterflies Using The Underside Of Their Wings

Despite their names, size is often a poor differentiator between Large White and Small White butterflies. Even though the average wingspan of a Large White is, at c60mm, markedly larger than the circa 45mm wingspan of the Small White, Green-veined White and Orange-tip butterflies, this can be difficult to gauge in the field. To add complexity, the sizes of the two genders can differ significantly.

At first glance, the underneath of the hindwing of both Large White and Small White butterflies appears a plain, warm cream or ivory tone. The veins are pronounced but lack differentiating features. However, though care needs to be taken when attempting to distinguish the Large White and Small White from the underside of their hindwings, it is often possible.

Usually, the butterfly’s dark upperside wingtip marking bleeds through to the underside of the rear wing, appearing as a darker yellowish-grey or ochre colour than the rest of the underside of the forewing, so its shape and size can be used as a differentiator (in a nutshell “Larger black wing tip = Large White”). In the Large White I often think of the marking shape as looking like a shark’s fin or a boomerang. Caution is required because this bleed-through can sometimes be difficult to see from certain light angles and may be faint in aged specimens where the dark markings have faded.

In female Large Whites sometimes you can also sometimes see the distinguishing larger dark wing spots on the underside of the forewing, particularly in the second brood where these become even more marked. But again, caution is necessary because the angle of the closed wing position at rest does not always leave these fully visible and spots on a second brood Small White female can also be somewhat pronounced.

The good news is that a butterfly single small spot showing through and a plain cream hind wing underside is almost certainly a male Small White butterfly, since male Large Whites lack a spot and females of both species have double spots.

The Large White has a darker “shark fin” bleed through of its black corner marking that runs in an arc halfway down the far edge of its wing. Here Its black forewing spot is almost entirely obscured by the hind wing position. .

The Small White has a fainter bleed through of its grey wingtip that here appears buttery yellow and is restricted to the very tip. The male's single spot is smaller and less pronounced.

"Tips" To Identify White Butterflies From Their Upper Forewing Markings

From above, male Orange-tips are of course immediately identifiable due to their unmistakeable bright orange wing band. Female Green-veined Whites are also evident due to their powdery-grey veining.

From this perspective, identifying the Large White is usually straight forward because it has a comparatively larger and much blacker upper wingtip edging that is clearly visible from this viewpoint. This runs in an arc down to about midway along the far end of the forewing in a boomerang-like shape.

By contrast, the Small White’s dark wingtip mark is fainter and more of a brown-grey than black. It runs further up the side of the wing than along, reaching only about a third of the way along the far edge of the wing, with the corner points forming an isosceles triangle rather than an equilateral one. A little care may be needed in identifying aged Large White specimens as the wingtip markings may have also faded to more of a brown-grey - the shape and size is the key differentiator.

In female Large Whites you can also use their double black postdiscal forewing spots as an extra identification aid. Again these are much blacker and significantly larger than the fainter brown-grey ones of the Small White female, bear in mind that in the second brood these can sometimes be quite pronounced so a little caution needs to be taken with this feature.

The Orange-tip male is unmistakeable seen from above due to its vivid orange banding on the upperside of the forewings.

The Large White male has a larger blacker wingtip that arcs halfway across its upper forewing rear edge in a ”boomerang” shape and lacks forewing spots.

The Small White has a narrower wing tip marking that does not extend far along the far edge of the wing. The male has a small spot that is brownish-grey.

The Green-veined white female can be readily identified by clearly visible grey-green powdery vein dusting along its upperside forewing veins.

The Small White female has a pair of brown-grey upper forewing spots, these can be more pronounced in second brood individuals.

The Large White female has twin very large black spots as well as the bigger stronger black wing tip marking than the Small White.

Use Wing Shape To Identify Or Eliminate A Suspect

There is the greatest potential for confusion between Small White males, Green-veined White males and Orange-tip females, which are all of a similar size and have more subtle wing markings.

The easiest suspect of these to eliminate is usually the Orange-tip female. The rounded rear wingshape creates a letter “B” when basking which can be a distinctive feature even when seen in flight.

“Spot” The Butterfly’s Forewing Markings

The overall wing colour of the female Orange-tip is a cooler white hue than the Small White. The wing tip marking is also a cooler grey colour and the rim has a checkered / feathered appearance on both wings. This is particularly evident on the forewing tip set against the grey area.

The position of the spots on the upperside of the butterfly’s forewing can also help. In an Orange-tip the spot is positioned much closer to the side edge of the forewing than in the other white butterflies. Lastly, you can sometimes also even see bleed-through of the Orange'-tips striking underside mottling on the top side of the underwing.

Green-veined Whites are one of the more variable of UK butterflies. It can range from being almost pure white with no black spots at all and a barely visible vein dusting, right through to being a dusky cream or beige with strong and wide dusty green-grey vein markings and heavy double spotting in females. As in other butterflies, markings tend to be paler in the spring brood and heavier in later summer broods.

A pitfall to watch out for is that faintly marked Green-veined White males can be problematic to distinguish from a male Small White, particularly early in the season. However, even when barely visible, the veining usually breaks up the upperside grey forewing tip marking to give it a lined or broken apppearance.

The female Orange-tip also has grey wing tips but these have a checkered edging. It is a cooler white and has a rounded wingshape with a feathered appearance.

The Green-veined White also has a pointed forewing shape. Its upperside wing markings are highly variable and can be very faint.

This male Green-veined White has a very plain upperside and superficially looks like a Small White with a single spot. Close inspection reveals the green-grey dusting along the underside of its underwing veins and a broken appearance to its grey forewing tip mark.

Male Small White has more pointed forewing shape and flattened off rear wing shape than the female Orange-tip. It also has a warmer hue.

Male Small White nectaring on Lavender showing its narrower wing tip markings which are smoother than a male Green-veined White.

Female Orange-tip butterfly showing wing edge grey spot and rounded wings

Female Orange-tip butterfly at an angle showing cool-grey coloured forewing. Also the dot position close to the wing edge, checkered wingtip edging and rounded wing shape as identifiers.

Behaviour and Habitat

Behavior can also sometimes aid differentation - the Orange-tip female is a relatively weak and wafty flier generally staying close to the ground and resting frequently on plants. It is often found near ponds and along hedgrow-lined lanes where host plants Cuckoo Flower and Hedge garlic are to be found. The Green-veined White is widespread. Although, according to Lewington it too prefers damper habitats and woodland rides it is frequently seen in gardens where it has a fondness for nasturtiums as a host plant, much to gardeners dismay. The Small White, and especially the Large White by contrast are more vigorous fliers and generally wider ranging.

Identifying White Butterflies in Context

Below are some side-by-side contextual photos of the three main confusion species: Small White male, Orange-tip female and a Green-veined White male, to help get a feel for the gist or “jizz”, that is the character of a butterfly when viewed from a distance. Ultimately it’s best to get record shots of both the top and underwings for a confident identification.

Large White vs Small White Butterfly In Context

Large White female in context. It has bold black or dark grey wing tips. The female also has two large black spots on the wings.

Small White in context. It has fainter, browner grey wing tip markings that cover less area than the Large White.

Small White vs Male Green-veined White Butterfly In Context

Male Green-veined White in context. Though faint, you can still see some vein dusting on the upper wing running through the grey wingtip.

Small White in context. From a distance Small Whites can look similar to a male Green-veined White. They are creamier in colour and the dark wing tips are more even and consistent, and no vein markings.

Female Orange-tip vs Green-veined White Butterfly In Context

Orange-tip female basking. The checkered wing rim and rounded wingshape aid identification.

Green-veined White female with faded grey powdery veining and wing-tip markings still apparent.

Side on Views

Usually from this angle there is enough of both the underside underwing marking and the upperside forewing tip shape and shading to distinguish all of the whites. Here are some photographic examples.

Orange-tip female butterfly on grass flowerhead tip. Even with a faded grey wingtip the spot placement, rounded wingshape and a hint of the underside all contribute to a confident ID.

Although this male Green-veined white lacks any upper wing spots or veining the underwing underside is strongly veined and a marked cream hue.

The female’s black spot is misleadingly suggestive of a Large white but the narrow isosceles triangle shape of the dark wingtip indicates a Small White. The black would need to extend along the wing edge as far as the spot to be a Large White.

As well as the clearly greenish-veined underwing underside, you can also see faint darker veining and the white gaps breaking up the upper forewing tip grey marking of this female Green-veined white.

Both the “shark fin” bleed through extending well across the far wing edge and black spots are evident on this female Large White due to the light and wing angle.

This similarly lit view of a Large White female shows how much further along the wing the “boomerang” black wingtip edging goes.

Identifying Yellow Butterflies

Two of our “White” or Pieridae family butterflies are actually yellow and one doesn’t even live here permanently! The Clouded Yellow is a frequent summer migrant whereas the Brimstone butterfly is a long-lived, single-brooded resident butterfly. It is often among the first butterflies seen in spring when it emerges from hibernation as an adult. The different yellow hues and wingshapes should allow for straightforward differentiation between the two butterflies.

The Clouded Yellow is pretty much unmistakeable, with a distinctive custard or canary yellow colouring, and a contrasting wide, deep black band running along the upper side of both wings which is a distinctive and characteristic in flight. In profile, look for the black spot on the upper forewing underside and a white spot on the underside of the hindwing and especially its unique, wonderful emerald-green eyes.

Male Brimstones are instead a largely uniform vivid lemon yellow, while the females are a muted pale mint green hue. Brimstones are best identified by their scalloped wingshape, which lends them a chunky appearance in flight. The front of the forewing tapers to a hook, while the rear wing is teardrop shaped, enabling them to camouflage themselves as leaves when hanging upside down. Both females and males have distinctive maroon-coloured antennae and shoulders.

The Clouded Yellow is a custard colour has rounded wingshape with a black spot on the underwing

The male Brimstone butterfly is a bright lemon yellow hue, has scalloped wings and maroon antennae.

Female Brimstone is a muted mint-white colour and has scalloped, deeply veined wings that resemble a leaf.

And One Interloper…

Despite its appearance, the Marbled White butterfly isn’t technically speaking in the “Whites” family of butterflies at all. Instead it’s classed in the “Browns” or Satyrinae family, a sub family of the “Nymph” or Nymphalidae family. It also isn’t officially resident in Norfolk…yet.

Recently, one or two individuals have been sighted on grassland and chalky areas in the county so it could well be gradually following the same North Easterly pattern of expansion into the county seen among some other butterfly species, perhaps aided by the odd accidental, or even illicit, release. Marbled Whites are readily distinguished from other true “Whites” by its black-brown and white checkered pattern, which is clearlyy visible from above and underneath.

Marbled White butterfly - top view

Marbled White butterfly - three quarter view

Non Visual Characteristics Can Also Eliminate A Suspect

Distribution

The Wood White is very local, remains nationally very rare, is not resident in Norfolk so is not addressed here. Due to its small size and wing shape it would only likely be mistaken for a female Orange-tip butterfly but it lacks any spots on the upper side of its wings.

The Marbled White remains very unlikely to be seen in Norfolk as the county is, for now, tantalisingly just beyond its home range. The other native White butterflies are widespread across the county.

Being a migrant, the Clouded Yellow can pop up anywhere but is seen less often, except in years when weather conditions are exceptionally favourable, which can lead to an influx. Sightings are frequently made later on in summer near fields of Lucerne or legumes which are its host plants.

Flight Times / Phenology

Below are tables showing the first, mean and last sightings of each White species over the five years to 2019. (At time of writing more recent data was not available). Phenology is of somewhat less help than in some other families, but there are a couple of exceptions.

Brimstones are reliably the early bird of the family, emerging from hibernation as early as the end of January, fading by July before their offspring emerge in late July or August. This generation are then on the wing until entering hibernation in late autumn, occasionally emerging in winter on very mild days.

The Small White, Large White and Orange-tip appear next in a cluster, all typically flying from mid March, usually followed a week or two later by the Green-veined White. The migrant Clouded Yellow butterflies are usally brought to us by favourable windstreams later in Spring these individuals then breed to produce a second generation which emerges from the end of June. There is however some speculation that it may be starting to breed in the more southern counties of the UK.

The Small White and Large White and Green-veined White are all double-brooded, with a second generation typically flying from July through into Autumn. According to Lewington, in warm years a third brood of the Green-veined White can be seen.

By contrast, the single-brooded Orange-tip has the narrowest flight period, being seen on the wing from the end of June usually no later than mid July, although occasionally the odd individual has been spotted in August and September. The Clouded Yellow is a robust butterfly and the homegrown adult generation can usually be seen into mid to late Autumn in clement years.

Table of First Sightings of Pieridae Butterflies in Norfolk. Averages are a five year arithmetic mean to 2019.

Table of Last Sightings of Pieridae Butterflies in Norfolk

Table of Last Sightings of Pieridae Butterflies in Norfolk. Averages are a five year arithmetic mean to 2019.

Host Plants

The White butterfly family predominantly use plants in the Crucifer or Cabbage family, Cruciferaea. Although individual preferences do vary, there is considerable overlap so other than perhaps for the Brimstone butterfly, plants don’t really serve as clues for identification.

The Large White is notorious among gardeners for its taste for cultivated Brassicas as a caterpillar host plant, however it will also use Nasturtiums, Tropaeolum majus, Wild Mignonette, Reseda lutea, Wild Cabbage, Brassica oleracea, Oil Seed Rape, Brassica napus and Sea Kale, Crambe maritima as well, many of which make good diversionary or sacrificial plants on an allotment bed.

The Small White is something of a crossover, it shares its larger cousin’s taste for Wild Mignonette, Wild Cabbage and Nasturtiums and has an individual preference for Hoary Cress, Lepidium draba. But it also uses Charlock, Sinapis arvensis, Garlic Mustard, Alliaria petiolata and Hedge Mustard, Sisymbrium officinale, which are all eagerly utilised by the Green-veined White and Orange-tip butterflies.

Meanwhite the latter pair also share a preference for Cuckoo Flower, Cardamine pratensis, Water-cress, Roripa nasturtium-aquaticum, Large Bittercress, Crucifer amara. The Green-veined White has also been known to use Wild Cabbage, Wild Radish, Raphanus raphanistrum and, in gardens, even Nasturtiums and Alyssum, Alyssum maritimum.

Lastly, the Orange-tip’s secondary preferences tend to be Turnip, Brassica rapa, Hairy Rock-cress, Arabis hirsuta and at a pinch ornamental garden flowers Honesty, Lunaria annua and Dame’s Violet, Hesperis matronalis, although according to Butterfly Conservation survival is thought to be poorer on these.

Although the Brimstone butterfly is a wanderer and often seen nectaring in gardens, it actually relies on Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) and Alder Buckthorn (Frangula alnus) as its caterpillar host plants, so the loss of traditional native hedgerows can negatively impact it.

Clouded Yellow butterflies by contrast rely on Legumes as their host plants, favouring Clover, Trifolium spp. and Lucerne, Medicago sativa but also sometimes using common Bird’s Foot Trefoil, Lotus corniculatus.

Resources 

My own photographs and in-the-field observations

Butterfly Conservation Society -  Species information and factsheets:

R. Lewington - Pocket Guide to the Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland

A. M. Riley - British and Irish Butterflies

All images taken by and © Kiri Stuart-Clarke. All rights reserved

Grow Garlic Mustard for Butterflies

Many gardeners don't realise that Garlic Mustard, alliaria petiolata, is an important host plant for both Orange-tip and Green-veined White butterflies so innocently pull it up right as the butterflies are laying on it. This is a tragedy for the butterflies, but also a shame because Hedge Garlic, as its also called, is an attractive wildflower in its own right with beautifully scalloped fresh lime-coloured leaves, dainty white jasmine-like flowers and can look wonderful against a south facing wall.

May proved an eventful month, and not exactly for the best of reasons…

Orange-tip butterfly ovipositing on Hedge Garlic / Garlic Mustard, Alliaria petiolata, in my wildlife garden

One wildlife gardening project that I've been working on for a long time, in fact more or less since I moved in almost ten years ago, was how to get Orange-tip butterflies, Anthocharis cardamines, to breed in my wildlife garden. At first I planted Cuckoo flower, Cardamine Pratensis, the Orange-tip's best known primary host plant and the one they are always associated with. It tried it in my then new bog garden and by my pond margins, but the site proved too sunny and dry and Cuckoo flower failed to establish there.

Then I learned a less well known fact: Orange-tips also have a second primary plant, Hedge Garlic, Alliaria petiolata, also known as Garlic Mustard or Jack-by-the-hedge. This is a very different plant, larger, with beautifully scalloped lime green leaves, small Jasmine-like leaves, and it's even edible. It's a wanderer of part-shaded leafy lanes and hedgerows and is often used by butterflies as a more abundant alternative. Now that sounded alot more promising.

But for some reason I still struggled. Hedge Garlic is a biennial that behaves much like a foxglove. At first the Hedge Garlic didn't return, so I tried a variety of positions, all seemingly unsuccessful. Then I had an unexpected breakthrough, a self seeded patch popped up in, of all places, my gravel trap, not in part shade as everywhere advises, but southfacing and in full direct sun, exactly where the butterflies need it to be to lay on it. It seemed super happy there with damp feet and poor soil and went from strength to strength.

Finally, another three years on, I had a large clump running across the whole wall in a sunny position. Then this year Eureka! I spotted a female Orange-tip honing in on the patch, checking the flower tips out for prior eggs and then ovipositing some eggs in the bracts of several flower tips. I even managed a grab shot with my camera. I was euphoric and simply over the moon, I'd finally cracked it!

Two days later I took my camera out onto the patio preparing to photograph the eggs looked up and shrieked in horror. The gardener had been that morning, taken some initiative and “tidied” the whole wall! It turns out that not many people know that Hedge Garlic is a Orange-tip host plant.

Devastated, I spent the evening rummaging through the compost bin. Remarkably I saved about a dozen eggs and even more incredibly all bar one of those hatched. Despite various challenges rearing such minuscule hatchling, a few caterpillars were successfully released back into the wild on replacement host plants.

How Gardeners can Help Orange-tip Butterflies

Gardeners can help Orange-tip butterflies in three ways: Firstly by allowing self sown wild Hedge Garlic to grow in their garden, secondly by checking any Garlic Mustard they do need to weed out for butterfly eggs and relocating either the plants or the actual stems with eggs to a safe alternative host plant and lastly by proactively growing a patch of Hedge Garlic in a suitable sunny spot .

How to Transfer Orange-tip Eggs when Weeding Garlic Mustard

Orange-tip butterflies are most likely to have laid their egs on plants in a predominantly sunny aspect. If you do need to weed out a patch of Garlic Mustard then first check the undersides of the flower buds and bracts for eggs. The eggs are usually proud and bright orange so although small tend to be quite visible. If you find any, either pot up the plant, move it to a convenient spot and look after it. Otherwise clip the section with the egg on and then tie it high, as close to the flower tip bracts as possible onto another plant stem that is without an egg and that will be left in situ (or if wild, definitely won't be strimmed in road verge management). Tie the section securely, but without damaging the host plant stem, using fine wire or a non-fibre-shedding thread, if possible leave a route for the caterpillar to migrate avoiding contact with the tie altogether. The caterpillars are so miniscule on hatching they can even get caught in microfibres from polycotton just as in a fine spider web.

Lastly, its important to only put one egg onto each plant, or at least each flowering stem if the plant is a very large second year one. This is because the Orange-tip caterpillars are opportunistic cannibals and will eat each other if they cross paths.

Growing Garlic Mustard as a Butterfly Host Plant

Growing Garlic Mustard can actually help two spring butterfly species, as it is also the caterpillar host plant for another attractive white spring butterfly, the Green-veined White. The caterpillars however are not in competition with each other as the Green-veined White caterpillars eat the leaves of the plant whereas the Orange-tips feed on the seed pods.

Garlic Mustard is very easy to grow from seed in autumn or you can buy young plants from online wildflower providers like Naturescape in spring. Other native plant suppliers are available, do order youor Hedge Garlic early to catch egg laying season.

You will need to grow a generous clump in a sunny area (The butterflies don't generally oviposit on plants in shade) and grow them somewhere you can leave the plants all year even after they die back as many, though not all, caterpillars stay and pupate on the plants. Keep an eye out for ovipositing females and then look for the orange eggs regularly. Eggs are pale yellow day 1, turn bright orange on day 2 then fade to dull brown a day or two before hatching after about 7 days.

If you have grown Garlic Mustard in pots then you can optionally check over the flower heads and buds for predators, (moneyspiders with fine webs, aphids and ladybird larvae were all lurking in wait for mine) evict the predators and transfer the pots into a netted butterfly habitat to reduce predation. At time of writing 90cm butterfly habitats can be ordered online for about £15 from places like Bugzarre.

You can also grow Cuckoo flower, the Orange-tip butterflies’ other primary host plant, if you have a pond margin or bog garden of course. Orange-tips will occasionally lay on other crucifer wildflowers such as Charlock as well as Dames Violet and Honesty but larval survival is generally considered poor on these latter plants.

Garlic Mustard or Hedge Garlic is an attractive wildflower in its own right and deserves a place in every wildlife garden

Female Orange-tip butterfly nectaring on Hedge Garlic, Alliaria petiolata, flowers

Day 2 Orange-tip butterfly egg

Orange-tip caterpillar - 1st Instar or Moult

Orange-tip caterpillar - 2nd Instar or Moult

Orange-tip caterpillar 3rd Instar or Moult

Butterflies and Blackthorn Blossom

Peacock butterfly, Aglais io, nectaring on early Blackthorn, Prunus spinosa, blossom

Every year I wonder when and which butterfly species will be my first sighting of the year. Often its a “classic” springtime butterfly like a Brimstone or an Orange tip butterfly, but this year it was actually a Nymph family butterfly instead.

Out of nowhere on the 17th March, a Small Tortoiseshell appeared, it landed, pausing briefly to bask on some bare earth, only just long enough for an ID then darted off in the stiff breeze.

The sighting was so fleeting, however, that it was only really when I caught sight of this Peacock butterfly, Aglais io, a week later, with is vivid diversionary eyespots, frantically nectaring on newly opened blossom on the still leafless Blackthorn branches several days in a row in my native hedgerow that I really felt that spring was finally on its way and warmer days were not too far off.

It was also a timely reminder of just how vital a habitat a mixed native hedgerow is for our early pollinators. Blackthorn, Prunus spinosa, and other early flowering Prunus species for example are particularly important both for newly emerging butterflies, bees and hoverflies as well as acting as caterpillar hosts once their leaves burst and eggs hatch.

Its often overlooked in favour of exotic non native evergreens or plain old fencing, but by the time its warm enough to spend any time in the garden my native hedge is so thick my garden’s totally private. Hopefully as wildlife gardening becomes more popular and awareness of just how bad things are for insects and the remaining wildlife that depends on them, the popularity of mixed native hedging will start to increase.

At last, it is spring!

Blackthorn,Prunus spinosa, flowers even before its leaf buds have opened

Cut-off Channel Butterflies

After one of the coolest, driest springs on record, May so far seems to have done a pretty good impression of what a typical April should be like. Our weather station recorded a mere 5.8mm of rain for the whole of April but by the 2nd of May we’d virtually equaled that at 5.6mm and a storm on the third day took us to 20mm!

At last on 18th May we saw some butterfly friendly weather and I took a trip down to the Cut-off Channel at Stoke Ferry to enjoy the springtime Grizzled Skippers, Small Heath, Brimstone and Orange-tip butterflies to be seen there.

Aside from a zooming Peacock, Small Heath were the first butterflies to show. As usual they chose awkward perching spots close to the ground amongst the undergrowth and leaf litter. I always forget how very small they are; the Common Daisy, Bellis perennis and Redstem Stork’s-bill, Erodium cicutariam, in this photo help to give some scale.

Small Heath butterfly, Coenonympha pamphilus, nectaring on Redstem Stork’s-bill, Erodium cicutariam

Next we enjoyed the sight of several Brimstones dancing on by. One briefly landed and its camouflage proved so convincing that a Nomad bee even landed on its closed leaf-mimicking wings for a rest!

A Brimstone, Gonepteryx rhamni, butterfly’s camouflage is so good that it fools a Nomad bee into landing!

A Brimstone, Gonepteryx rhamni, butterfly’s camouflage is so good that it fools a Nomad bee into landing!

Orange-tip butterflies were the most plentiful and confiding of the species we saw and I was lucky to spot two perched up mating, a first for me. They were perched on Hairy Rock-cress, Arabis hirsuta. Unfortunately for me, they weren’t entirely parallel and it was very breezy (the warmer than expected weather was brewing up a storm) so I couldn’t quite get both butterflies in focus simultaneously, but it was a lovely sight to behold nonetheless.

Mating pair of Orange-tip butterflies, Anthocharis cardamines perching on Hairy Rock-cress, Arabis hirsuta

The female Orange-tip butterfly, Anthocharis cardamines, has a green eye and mottled underside wings

Female Orange-tip butterfly, Anthocharis cardamines, basking on a grass seedhead with its wings open

We’d managed to spot just a few Grizzled Skippers along the way but they too were restless and camera shy. But just as we turned to head for home one landed on a buttercup for a few seconds, making a perfect end to a lovely canal-side walk. For more information about the history of the man-made cut off channel canal you can visit its wikipedia page

Grizzled Skipper butterfly, Pyrgus malvae, nectaring on a Buttercup

Grizzled Skipper butterfly, Pyrgus malvae, nectaring on a Buttercup

Golden Blues

I always start to feel a little sad at this time of year as our now golden wlidflower meadow will soon be down for another year. But in the meantime I’ve been lucky to enjoy the golden evening sunlight falling on the last brood of Common Blue butterflies who like to bask on the west side of the meadow to catch the last rays of the sun before going to roost.

Despite all the odds, this late summer Common Blue butterfly generation seem to have had a reasonable year, which could bode well for next season. They are one of the Blue butterfly species that use ants to shelter and protect their late stage caterpillars and chyrsalis so perhaps that may be one reason why. Ants are just flourishing in our meadow and around its edge and quite sizeable ant mounds are now developing. It just serves as another reminder of how intericately joined up and interdependent all life actually is.

Planting for Holly Blue Butterflies

Holly Blue perched on Red Campion leaf

Why Plant Butterfly Host Plants

Wildlife and butterfly friendly gardening is a growing topic of interest and these days most gardeners enthusiastically plant nectar rich “pollinator friendly” planting schemes.

One easily overlooked requirement is to plant for the less glamorous caterpillar stage too, but without these essential host plants, butterflies cannot reproduce.

By catering for the entire butterfly lifecycle in this way you will support your local butterfly population as well as attracting more butterflies into your garden.

This article looks at which host plants to grow to support Holly Blue butterfly caterpillars.

Holly Blue Butterfly Habits

Holly Blues are our earliest blue butterfly on the wing and, being a species of hedgerows and woodland margins, is often also seen in parks and gardens. With the right caterpillar planting scheme, Holly Blues can readily be enticed in to become a resident in your garden.

They are distinguished from other blue butterflies by their beautiful pale powder blue undersides with black spots. They also tend to fly higher up amongst shrubs and trees than their grassland relatives, which prefer to fly low skipping along amongst the ground vegetation.

Given the butterfly’s name you’d be forgiven for thinking this one's a no-brainer for planting but there's more to it than meets the eye.

Holly Blue Butterfly Host Plants

First brood Holly Blues prefer female Holly bushes, Ilex aquifolium, as their caterpillar host plant

Preferred Caterpillar Host Plants

Holly Blues are dual brooded and each generation has its own favourite caterpillar host plant. Unsurprisingly, Holly, Ilex aquifolium is preferred by the spring generation of Holly Blues. Moreover, although the first brood butterflies will lay their eggs on male Holly bushes, they have a distinct preference for female Holly plants.

BUT Ivy, Hedera helix is the preferred caterpillar host plant of the second, summer brood of Holly Blue butterflies.

Second brood Holly Blues prefer Ivy, Hedera Helix, as their caterpillar host plant

So planting a combination of female Holly and Ivy together to accommodate both brood's caterpillars is the ideal Holly Blue butterfly planting scheme.

Alternative Caterpillar Host Plants

Holly Blues will also lay on a variety of other native hedge plants and shrubs. The spring brood of Holly Blues will use Spindle, Euonymus europaeus, Dogwood, Cornus spp. and Gorse, Ulex spp.

Native hedging supports both broods of the Holly Blue butterfly

In contrast alternative planting for the summer Holly Blue butterfly brood includes Bramble, Rubus fruticosus, Alder Buckthorn, Frangula alnus , Common Buckthorn Rhamnus cathartica, also known as Purging Buckthorn and Gorse, Ulex ssp..

Gorse is in fact the only plant used by both broods of Holly Blue, which admittedly isn’t always top of a gardeners list, however a mixed native hedge, hedgerow or shrubby mini-copse or corner containing Buckthorn, Dogwood and Spindle will serve both Holly Blue generatons well and sustain the entire annual cycle of Holly Blue butterflies.

Less Common Caterpillar Host Plants

The non-native, but attractive Snowberry bush, Symphoricarpos spp has also been used by the second Holly Blue brood.

General Caterpillar Host Planting Tips

Caterpillars usually rely on our native wildflowers for evolutionary reasons, which often may not be readily available in your local general garden centre and when they are, may not be the original native cultivar or pesticide free (even with a pollinator friendly label so do take care to ask). The good news is that there are plenty of excellent specialist native plant and seed stockists online, a few of which are listed below.

Plant your caterpillar host plants in generous clumps as butterflies are often quite picky about which stems they will use. Site them in or near a sunny sheltered position (depending on the plants’ requirements) ideally with a good, seasonally appropriate, source of nectar close by. Again native plants are often preferred, when using non-natives pick single flowered varieties rather than doubles as the latter produce less nectar.

Companion Holly Blue Butterfly Nectar Plants

Most of the Holly Blue’s caterpillar host plants serve as nectar sources and honeydew is also used, but these pretty wildflowers are also a good companion planting option:

Spring Brood

  • Ajuga reptans, Bugle

  • Ranunculus spp, Buttercup

  • Selene dioica, Red Campion

  • Myosotis spp., Forget-me-not

  • Anthriscus sylvestris, Cow Parsley

Summer Brood

  • Eupatorium cannabinum, Hemp Agrimony

  • Carduus spp. and Cirsium spp., Thistles

  • Mentha aquatica, Water Mint

  • Ligustrum vulgare, Wild Privet

British Native Wildflower Stockists

There are plenty of online specialist suppliers these days, do ask about pesticides and double check latin names before ordering.

  • Emorsgate - Wildflower seed specialists based in West Norfolk

  • Naturescape - Nottingham based native plant and seed specialist with a good selection of plugs





A Week of Two Blues

As the last week in what has been sunniest and driest May in England for over a century drew to a close, our now very parched garden yielded two beautiful blue insects. My first Common Blue butterfly of the season finally materialised, maybe benefitting from Bird’s-Foot Trefoil’s resilience to drought conditions and a male Broad-bodied Chaser dragonfly appeared, grateful perhaps that our pond hasn’t, quite, dried out!

Common Blue basking in late afternoon sunlight

Broad-bodied Chaser Dragonfly perching on a dried reed

Planting for Orange Tip Butterflies

Why Plant Butterfly Host Plants

Male Orange Tip Butterfly

Wildlife and butterfly friendly gardening is a growing topic of interest and these days most gardeners enthusiastically plant nectar-rich “pollinator friendly” planting schemes. One easily overlooked requirement is to plant for the less glamorous caterpillar stage too, but without these essential host plants, butterflies cannot reproduce.

By catering for the entire butterfly lifecycle in this way you will support your local butterfly population as well as attract more butterflies into your garden.

This article looks at what host plants to grow to support Orange Tip butterfly caterpillars.

Orange Tip Butterfly Habits

Orange Tips are springtime butterflies that can be seen in a range of habitats. They frequent marshes, river margins and damp meadows but can also be found skipping along hedgerows and visiting gardens, especially if there is a wildlife pond nearby. Orange Tips lay their eggs singly on a flower stem and usually avoid plants with pre-existing eggs so you need a generous patch of larval food plant to go round. The reason for this is that the caterpillars of this species are cannibalistic.

Alliaria petiolata, Garlic Mustard or hedge Garlic

Orange Tip Butterfly Host Plants

Preferred Caterpillar Host Plants

Orange Tip’s favourite host plant is Cardamine pratensis, Cuckoo Flower or Lady’s Smock, which loves boggy areas, damp meadows and pond margins. In fact the term “pratensis” means meadow in latin.

Alternative Caterpillar Host Plants

If like me, you have a drier garden Orange Tips will also lay their eggs on Hedge Garlic/Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) which is often seen along the side of country lanes and hedgerows. Do be careful and check the latin name when ordering this caterpillar plant as several different plants share these common names.

Less Common Caterpillar Host Plants

Cardamine pratensis or Cuckooflower is the Orange Tip’s favourite host plant

Sisymbrium officinale - Hedge Mustard, Barbarea vulgaris - Winter-cress, Brassica rapa - Turnip, Sinapis avensis - Charlock, Cardamine amara - Large Bitter-cress and Arbis hirsuta Hairy Rock-cress. Although Orange Tips will lay their eggs on Lunaria annua - Honesty and Hesperis matronalis - Dame's-violet garden plants, caterpillar survival is believed to be quite poor on these so these are best avoided except as accompanying nectar sources.

General Caterpillar Host Planting Tips

Caterpillars usually rely on our native wildflowers for evolutionary reasons, which often may not be readily purchased in your local general garden centre and when they are, may not be the right cultivar or pesticide free (even with a pollinator friendly label so do take care to ask). The good news is that there are plenty of excellent specialist native plant and seed stockist online, a few of which are listed below.

Plant your caterpillar plants in generous clumps as butterflies are often quite picky about which stems they will use. Site them in or near a sunny sheltered position (depending on the plants requirements) ideally with a good, seasonally appropriate, source of nectar close by. Again native plants are often preferred, when using non-natives pick single varieties rather than doubles as the latter have less nectar.

Companion Orange Tip Butterfly Nectar Plants

Most of the Orange Tip’s caterpillar host plants serve as nectar sources, but these pretty springtime wildflowers are also an option:

  • Lychnis flos-cuculi, Ragged Robin

  • Selene dioica, Red Campion

  • Stellaria holostea, Greater Stitchwort

  • Anthriscus sylvestris, Cow parsley

  • Lunaria annua, Honesty

  • Hesperis matronalis, Dame's-violet

British Native Wildflower Stockists

There are plenty of online specialist suppliers these days, do ask about pesticides and double check latin names before ordering.

  • Emorsgate - Wildflower seed specialists based in Norfolk

  • Naturescape - Nottingham based native plant and seed specialist with a good selection of plugs



Purple Loosestrife and Autumn Copper

Small Copper butterfly nectaring atop a Purple Loosestrife flower

One of the most spectacular, for me almost magical, wildlife gardening plants I’ve discovered in my project to create a wildlife-friendly garden is Purple Loosestrife.

Purple Loosestrife grows in a dense cluser on pond and river edges. Its foliage and flowers support a variety of long-tongued pollinators

These butterfly photos, probably my last of 2019, a quickly grabbed series of a Small Copper butterfly, Lycaena phlaeas, frantically nectaring on swaying Purple Loosestrife flowers by my wildlife pond on a sunny but very blustery mid-September’s day, illustrate perfectly why it is such a wonderful wildlife-friendly plant to grow.

Gardening Value

Purple Loosestrife, or Lythrum salicaria to give it its botanical name, is a native perennial, widespread across the UK. In the wild it inhabits a range of damp habitats including river edges, marshes and pond margins. The wildflower works well in gardens because its height and colour have a strong impact, making it visually impressive in the way that relatively few other native wildlfowers are.

Its almost exotic-looking flowers are formed of tall rosettes of rich magenta-pink petals and it enjoys a long flowering period from June until well into September. Salicaria refers to the willow-like, elongated oval shape of its leaves and its red-hued stems can be striking in their own right, adding height and structure to a pond margin. Purple Loosestrife is easy to grow, being a vigourous plant which can grow up to a metre and a half tall, often in quite dense colonies and tolerates a wide variety of soil types. It establishes easily, so much so that in North America it has become designated an invasive species, and has a reputation and status similar to that of Himmalayan Balsam here.

Elephant Hawkmoths use Purple Loosestrife as a caterpillar host plant and have magenta markings

Wildlife value

Purple Loosestrife is a particularly useful nectar source for a variety of long-tongued insects; not just butterflies and bees, but also hoverflies and moths, including several hawk moth species. Its prolonged midsummer-into-autumn flowering period means Purple Loosestrife can serve pollinators as a nectar source both through the “June Gap” as well as supporting later emerging and second brood insects, such as Small Copper butterflies well into early autumn when many other nectar sources such as meadow flowers have vanished with the haycut and harvest.

Being a UK native wildflower, it is also favoured as a caterpillar host plant by several moth species including the Elephant Hawk-moth, Willowherb Hawkmoth and the Powdered Quaker.

Plant folklore

Its main common name suggests one of its many herbal uses may have been to “loose strife” and historically it was also used medicinally to help gastric upsets, fevers and dysentry. Lythrum comes from the Greek word for “gore”, again referencing its vivid flower hue. Alternative names for Purple Loosestrife include “Blooming Sally, Bouquet Violet, Grass Polly, Purple Willowherb, Purple Lythrum, Salicaire (its French name), Red Sally, Soldiers, Spiked Willowstrife, Stray by the Lough (Ireland) Swaggering Sally”. A red dye and food colouring used to be made from its vividly coloured flowers and its tannins have been used to preserve ropes or wood from rotting in water.

Small Copper butterfly in profile seeking nectar rich Purple Loosestrife flowers

Small Copper butterfly amidst swaying Purple Loosestrife flower spikes

Small Copper using its long proboscis to nectar on Purple Loosestrife

A Painted Lady Summer

Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui nectaring on white Buddleia. Will 2019 be a record-breaking Painted Lady summer?

As the Butterfly Conservation Society’s annual three week long Big Butterfly Count draws to a close, the UK looks set to have enjoyed the magical, once-in-a-decade phenomenon called a “Painted Lady summer” when the apricot- and black-marked species arrives here en masse.

The last such event occured in 2009, when some 11 million Painted Ladies, known as Vanessa cardui, arrived on our shores and there is speculation that 2019 could be a record-breaking year.

But how is it that a butterfly that doesn’t survive our winters and isn’t even permanently resident in the UK manages to congregate here in such numbers?

The Painted Lady, a member of the large and colourful Nymphalidae butterfly family, is a poweful flyer and long distance migrant. During its migration it can achieve an impressive speed of almost 30 miles per hour and fly some 100 miles in a day. In fact, it’s 7,500 mile round trip migration from North Africa as far north as the arctic circle is even longer than that of the famous Monarch butterfly, which travels up and down the North American seabord.

Freshly emerged, second generation Painted Lady nectaring on a budding Common Knapweed flower

Despite its flying prowess, like the Monarch butterfly, Vanessa cardui traverses its intercontinental route multigenerationally and, having only a 2 week long life span, takes about 6 generations to complete it.

Each season the butterfly flies northwards from the desert fringes of North Africa to reach mainland Europe and then on to the UK, reaching Britain in late March. Here the newly arrived lepidopteran immigrant lays eggs on Marsh and other Thistles, Viper’s Bugloss, Mallow and Nettles. After about a month-and-a-half later the next generation emerges (46 days according to devoted turn of the century lepidopterist F. W. Frohawk).

These native-born Painted Ladies then lay a brood of their own, which, further supplemented by arrivals from both Europe and Scandinavia, significantily boosts numbers towards late summer. Some of these butterflies will commence the return migration southwards as the seasonal conditions turn.

So what makes the once in a decade “Painted Lady year” of mass abundance occur? Experts believe that the butterfly’s migratory instinct may be triggered by population density (leading to competition for egglaying sites and food sources) and in exceptional years, unusually good food availability and favourable weather conditions foster population booms. This in turn triggers mass North- and Easterly-bound migrations, often with hundreds, even thousands of butterflies reaching landfall along the UK’s East and South coastline, some arriving from Europe, others from Scandinavia and some even directly from Africa in favourable windstreams.

As well as Thistles for egg laying, depending on its generation, adult Painted Lady butterflies will nectar on a wide range of plants. These include Knapweeds, Buddleia, Trefoils, Hawkweeds, Heather, Privet, Ivy, Bugle and Clovers, so planting these species, and tolerating that annoying thistle or two (you can always deadhead later to stop the patch growing!) increases the likelihood of you attracting this orgeous, intricately-marked butterfly into your garden and enjoying your very own Painted Lady Summer.

Blackberrying Butterflies

Comma butterfly feeding on blackberry.jpg

We tend to think of butterflies as nectar drinkers, but in fact their diet varies significantly by speces, and also by season. At this time of year as the blackberries ripen on brambles, many species especially hibernating Nymph butterflies like this Comma butterfly (Polygonia c-album are as partial to a bit of blackberrying as you or I!

Drought!

Chakhill Blue butterflies had a good summer in Norfolk despite the drought

As July went on our heatwave turned into a full-blown drought that saw harvests fail, lawns wither and die, and ponds dry up. At Nar Cottage, even our hardy native wildflower meadow turn a rather bleached shade and our parched front lawn became covered in the gold heads of Cat’s Ears which proved popular with Skipper and White butterflies.

East Anglia was the region worst affected by the drought in the UK, experiencing only 3.4 days of rainfall in July and recorded on 21.1mm of rain in total for the entire month. It wasnt just plants that suffered during the prolonged dry conditions however, butterflies and other plant-munching insects did too.

As many plants wilting away, caterpillars struggled too. One interesting survival tactic for later flying broods of butterflies such as Common Blues was to call it a day and pupate early, emerging from their metamorphosis perfectly a formed, but far smaller adult butterfly than usual.

One species that surprisingly seemed to buck the trend was the small population of Challkhill Blue butterflies up at Warham near the north Norfolk coastline. After several years of unfavourable weather yielding poor to mediocre numbers, the official BCS timed count this year was some 570, up from just 158 last year, and they seemed to have a longer season than usual if the numbers I saw when I popped up the first week of August were anything to go by. Who knows, perhaps there may be some unexpected winners from the curious summer of 2018 after all...

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/summaries/2018/july/regional-values

A Large White butterfly nectaring on Cat’s Ear’s that covered our parched lawn during the long summer drought. Both species seemed to fare well.

A Large White butterfly nectaring on Cat’s Ear’s that covered our parched lawn during the long summer drought. Both species seemed to fare well.

Red, White and err, Pink!

As world cup fever gripped the Nation and England reached the football semi-finals for the first time in decades, and Brexit negotiations seemingly reached an even more parlous state of play, I was instead becoming fascinated by my new moth trap, and the amazing moths being attracted to the lights... 

A White Satin moth, Leucoma salicis, perched on the reflective moth trap lid

Pink: One of a dozen Elephant Hawkmoths, Deilephila elpenor, attracted to my twin actinic skinner moth trap

Laying the Ghost of Iris to Rest

Purple Emperor's caterpillar host plant is the Willow tree family. It prefers the Common Sallow (Grey Willow, Salix Cinerea) but will also use Great Sallow (Goat Willow, Salix Caprea) and Crack Willow (Salix fragilis)

In last July's blog I wrote of my bitter disappointment at my foiled attempt to see the most celebrated British butterfly, the Purple Emperor, while discovering that, in the famous words of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, "there's no place like home".

To rub salt into the wound, 2017 proved to be an amazing season for Apatura iris and a particularly bad year to be benched. Right as my blog was published, Purple Emperors were, remarkably, seen for the first time in the Sheringham/Beeston area on the North Norfolk coast. They will need to be recorded for five consecutive years however to be classed a Norfolk resident.

I spent the year conserving my energy and biding my time, yet all the while the memory of the trip I hadn't made to see the King of butterflies in a peak season linged in the recesses of my mind, surfacing occasionally to niggle away at me. His majesty had ensnared me after all, at least a little.

Come late June and I had some leave left at work. The timing looked on paper to be perfect, but after a bumper year last year, I fretted that the early super-cold snap might have affected them. What if the population had collapsed, or this year's weather proved unfavourable?

White Admirals look similar to Purple Emperors but are smaller, lack the orange markings and purple iridescence

My first week off was an anti-climax, dry but coolish, windy and unsettled. No reports showed and I felt fidgety, restless and frustrated, fearing that my timing was off and I would have another run of bad butterfly luck.

Suddenly the temperatures rose, the long predicted heatwave actually appeared and reports started to trickle in. I grasped my last chance to take the trip and headed towards a less visited Wood in Northamptonshire, close to the Purple Emperor's stronghold at Fermyn Woods.

I experienced butterflies of the tummy variety as I drove up the deserted, deeply rutted dusty track at my destination. I'd been running a little late and the temperatures were soaring. Emperors are notoriously active in the afternoons and apparently once charged up rarely come down from the canopies. Was I already too late?

As I got out of my car my spirits lifted. A large black and white butterfly immediately swept past the car door zooming along, low above the ground at a high rate of knots. Could it be that easy? Had I already seen my target? Was it a female Purple Emperor or the smaller also black and White Admiral? I'm not sure I will ever be certain whether that was really my first sighting. The flight was fast and powerful, though I definitely didnt catch a flash of purple.

Nonetheless it proved a good omen, as I had barely entered fifty yards into the woods when I found an elderly Black Hairstreak and an unusually confiding White Admiral basking by the side of the path.

Just a few yards further on I suddenly spotted a fellow Emperor hunter photographing a sizeable butterfly "puddling" (taking up salts from mud) on the ground. The richly marked russet-orange underwings were unmistakeable - this was was no White Admiral!

Female Purple Emperor, lacking the purple iridescence, perched on a Sallow branch feeding on aphid honeydew

Purple Emperors also take in trace salts from the ground, animal droppings and other pungent substances, a behaviour known as "mud-puddling"

The Purple Emperor continued  to probe the ground with its proboscis, wings stubbornly closed, for some minutes. Then suddenly it snapped its wings open vigorously, catching the sun's rays.

The light glanced off the Purple Emperor's wings obliquely and a flash of iridescent purple appeared from nowhere. His Majesty resplendent in his imperial cloak. Just as quickly the sparkling colour vanished and reverted to black as the butterfly rotated further round towards the sun. Mission accomplished.

The Purple Emperor's iridescence is only visible at certain angles to the sun's rays

For around an hour or so the Purple Emperor and at least one Purple Empress wafted up and down the track in their finery, alternately mud-puddling and looping up high in a figure of eight around what seemed to be a pair of "Master" trees, one an Oak, one a Common Sallow.  I was also treated to the sight of a female Purple Emperor perched up in the more attractive setting of a Sallow tree, apparently feeding on honeydew. Shortly after one o'clock I enjoyed my last figure of eight looping fly past and both I and his Majesty parted ways and headed off to attend to the rest of the day's business.

It all seemed so strangely easy in the end that I actually felt a little nonplussed. Why all the fuss, I wondered? Wasn't Iris famously elusive? Where was the challenge, the mystery?  Maybe there was none and my scientific research had paid off, maybe I had simply been lucky or maybe, just maybe, fickle fate had at last taken pity on me and requested Iris to grace me with his royal presence in a random act of kindness.

Whatever the answer, I drove home at peace, with the ghost of the Purple Emperor past of 2017 that had never been seen, well and truly laid to rest.

Purple Emperor "mud-puddling" with its wings open

 

 

Two Blues and No Greens

After a second fruitless jaunt hoping to photograph some rather shy Green Hairstreaks, which seem to be having a good season this year, my sunny late May Sunday ended up being an impromptu tale of two Blues in my own back garden instead.

Male Broad-bodied Chaser dragonfly basking

As I was resting on my patio I spotted our first blue Broad-bodied chaser dragonfly posing ostentatiously by the side of our (now very low) wildlife pond, barely a day after our first Four-spotted chaser appeared. Both were trying to hold territory and I was entertained by some impressive aerial battles.

A subsequent gentle lap of our garden yielded a female Holly Blue Butterfly busily ovipositing on the native shrubs in our wildlife hedgerow that borders our garden and now in its 5th year is nice and dense. Our wildlife garden just keeps on giving year after year. 

A female Holly Blue butterfly busily ovipositon amongst native hedging

A Purple Streak

The colour purple became my leitmotiv during early July. It is the season of the purple butterflies and therein lies a tale of mystery and obsession...

The Oak tree canopy is a habitat for both Purple Emperor and Purple Hairstreak butterflies, which both feed on aphid honeydew

The Oak tree canopy is a habitat for both Purple Emperor and Purple Hairstreak butterflies, which both feed on aphid honeydew

Two very different, yet equally enigmatic, purple butterfly species are on the wing towards the end of June into mid-July. Though very different in fame and stature, both share two things in common: a fondness for the heady heights of mature Oak tree canopies in deciduous woodland and a strong reputation for elusiveness and ability to evade the gaze of even the most determined of butterfly seekers.  

Since being drawn into the world of butterflying I've discovered that, since time immemorial, avid butterfly chasers have gone temporarily a little doolally at this time of year. The hysteria is all over a certain famous, purple-cloaked member of the royal family who is not, officially at any rate, currently resident in Norfolk - the magnificent Purple Emperor. 

Known affectionately to his acolytes as "his Majesty" or sometimes simply "Iris", the Purple Emperor is neither Britain's largest butterfly (our very own Norfolk Swallowtail),  nor the rarest (the once extinct, recently reintroduced Large Blue), nor even the brightest (arguably the Silver-washed Fritillary) so this seemingly bizarre Purple Emperor obsession had been puzzling me for some time. Just what quality is it that bewitches them all? Is it the dramatic colour purple? Their reputed vigorous flight and aggressive behaviour? Or some other mysterious factor altogether ....?

After an inspiring talk by renowned butterfly conservationist and Purple Emperor advocate Matthew Oates at Norfolk Butterfly Conservation's AGM back in 2016, I became intrigued and not a little bewitched myself. In a bid to sate my curiosity and discover the obscure reason for the Purple Emperor's celebrity status for myself, I started planning a field trip to visit his Imperial Majesty's haunts, mature Oak and Sallow woodland rides.

Alas fate was not on my side,  despite attempts to make visits to Fermyn Woods in Northants, Wood Walton Fen in Cambridgeshire or Theberton in Suffolk, life events have intervened and scuppered my plans well and truly for this year. Perhaps Iris is to be my new five year nemesis butterfly, who knows. 

With my ability to range much curtailed, I was crestfallen and deeply disappointed. But there was still the second less famous, but to me equally elusive, purple butterfly to discover: the Purple Hairstreak butterfly, Neozephyrus quercus. And it lives much closer to home.

Although much smaller, the Purple Hairstreak butterfly shares a surprising number of characteristics in common with its larger Imperial cousin. As suggested by its Latin species name "quercus" it too favours mature deciduous oak woodland and so is also highly elusive (and under-reported) as a result to its habit of dwelling up high amongst the tree canopy. There it lives on honeydew produced by aphids and only rarely descends from the "throne" for the odd sip of bramble nectar.

A Purple Hairstreak butterfly perched on an Oak tree leaf near the edge of Syderstone Common, Norfolk

A Purple Hairstreak butterfly perched on an Oak tree leaf near the edge of Syderstone Common, Norfolk

While laid up I did my research thoroughly. Purple Hairstreaks being far more widespread than his majesty, I was able to find some promising local locations in Norfolk, and had in fact already experienced my first brief glimpse of a old faded and tattered Purple Hairstreak on a dog walk at Holkham Hall one August a few years back. I took a punt on a very short run up to the nearby Syderstone Common nature reserve,  on the edge of North Norfolk coastal AONB. Its a large reserve of lowland gorse heathland, an SSSI that is famous for its Natterjack toad population, but not all that much else, in fact a previous visit had left me visually underwhelmed. This time however the reserve was transmuted into a spectacular sea of vivid fuchsia pink willowherb flowers swaying in the gentle breeze.

Essex Skipper butterfly perched on a Rosebay Willowherb flower spike

Essex Skipper butterfly perched on a Rosebay Willowherb flower spike

My fieldcraft skills must have improved somewhat as I was delighted to spot an active Purple Hairstreak quite soon into my visit. There it was, a small grey blob fluttering away right up high in the treetops, initially silhouetted against the cloudy sky. Its flight was erratic and it was hard to keep track as the butterfly flitted amongst the oak treetop and nearby birches in the mature woodland circling this now spectactularly beautiful reserve.

After spotting my Hairstreak's "Master" Oak I stayed for some time, craning my neck to try to spot this diminutive butterfly amongst the oak leaves. Eventually one dropped a little lower and permitted a quick shot before circling up high again in a cluster of nearby Birches.

On my way back to the car I spotted a beautiful young buck Roe Deer, who paused, checked me out for a little while then barked at me before trotting off back into the Oak woodland, a beautiful end to my successful visit. Although my sightings had been distant and tantalising, I had bagged my first purple.

Perhaps the abiding memory for me is not so much finally photographing my first purple butterfly, but rather Syderstone Common nature reserve itself, which was a natural habitat at the peak of its mid-summer glory and afforded a sensory firework display of wildflower delight at every turn.

Visually the abundant vibrant pink Rosebay Willowherb flower spires intermingled with creeping carpets of rich yellow Tormentil, while the heady scent of rambling native Honeysuckle hung in the air and bramble in full bloom. Every plant seemed to be alive, swaying in the breeze and dancing with a host of orange Skipper, Ringlet and Meadow Brown butterflies flitting about into the distance as far as the eye could see.

As for purple Royalty... I must now be patient, wait and bide my time till 2018 brings a whole new season and fresh opportunity for his Imperial Highness to ensnare me as subject.

We shall see...

Vivid pink Rosebay Willowherb can be spectactular when in full bloom

Vivid pink Rosebay Willowherb can be spectactular when in full bloom

A young Roe Deer buck on Syderstone Common, Norfolk

A young Roe Deer buck on Syderstone Common, Norfolk

The Skipper and the Rose

I love Skippers, I may have mentioned it before. They are small, cute, furry and very confiding; though that latter characteristic could be more accurately interpreted as territorial and pugnacious. This Large Skipper butterfly (note the black, twirly antennae tips mentioned in my Skipper butterfly identification article) is perched on a humble bramble flower aka Rubus frutiscosus, a member of the romantic Rose (Rosacaea) botanical family and predecessor of modern blackberry cultivars, yet today considered a nuisance weed for most Gardeners due to its vigorous nature.  

This photo serves as a timely reminder that less than glamorous native species can be excellent food sources for both adult butterflies and their caterpillar stage, not to mention other pollinators. I this week's Gardener's World episode, a Welsh research study into Bees favourite nectar source has indicated they will travel further afield to collect pollen from native species in preference to most garden ornamental imports.

According to Chris Manley's British Moths and Butterflies, a bramble bush can serve as a caterpillar host plant for some 35 moths and butterflies, including threatened Grizzled Skipper butterflies as wells as the impressive Scarlet Tiger and Emperor moths.

Perhaps in wildlife terms, not so humble after all.

And yes, if you stop, look closely... close your eyes... inhale the scent..., a rose by any other name remains as sweet.

 

© Kiri Stuart-Clarke 2008-2022.
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