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.

A Marauding Devil's Coach-horse

It seems Halloween came early to Nar Cottage this year, with the arrival of a maurading Devil's Coach-horse, and a poisonous Brown Roll-rim toadstool!

Devil's Coach-horse beetle, Ocypens olens

The Devil's Coach-horse, Ocypus olens or Staphylinus olens, is the largest of the Staphylinidae or Rove family of beetles, unsurprisingly so-called because they are always on the move. This is the largest beetle family with around 63,000 species worldwide and 1000 in the UK, making up roughly 25% of British species.

Devil’s Coach-horses are common and widespread in the UK. They are native to the UK and Europe, but introduced to parts of Australasia and America. I remember them being called a Devil’s footman in my childhood, one of many alternative names for them, but the main English name of Devil’s Coach-horse name has been firmly in use since 1840.

Although generally nocturnal, they can sometimes be seen during the day hunting for food and, due to their large size (they can grow up to almost 3cm) and striking appearance are very hard to miss! They reproduce in autumn, so it's very possible this individual was busy seeking a mate.

Their appearance is undeniably eerie, they have disproportionately large powerful mandibles for their size, an elongated jet black body and a shortened wing-case. Although they can actually still fly they rarely do so, preferring to hunt on foot. You could certainly imagine them in a fairy tale playing the role of sinister Coach-horses pulling along a fantastical evil overlord in a dark alternative to Cinderella's pumpkin-chariot.

They are indeed ferocious predators, hunting slugs, caterpillars, worms, spiders, woodlice, other invertebrates and carrion. They prefer damp places and will shelter under rocks, logs or leaf litter during the day. The female lays eggs singly in Autumn under damp moss or leaves. The resulting larvae are as carnivorous as their parents and grow through 3 instar (larval stages) over 150 days before pupating and emerging just over a month later in adults form. Devil’s Coach-horses are largely active April through to October. Adults overwinter either by staying active or by hibernating and can live up to two years.

Aggressive “Scorpion-like” Defensive Posture

They have a deservedly pugnacious reputation, mine was right out in the open in broad daylight marching around fearlessly. They are notorious for curling up their abdomen and opening their mandibles in an agressive, scorpion-like defense pose when threatened, presumably to appear large and threatening, as they aren't actually venomous and don't have a sting.

When threatened, the Devil's Coach-horse beetle, Ocypens olens, arches its abdomen in a "Scorpion" style defensive posture, opens its jaws and secretes a foul liquid from its glands

Another defense mechanism is the ability to emit a noxious substance from white glands on their abdomen, which the second half of their binomial name, olens, meaning "smelling", alludes to. If further threatened, their strong jaws can also give a nasty nip.

Devil’s Coach-horse in Folklore

They've been associated with magic, evil forces and the Devil in British superstition and folklore since mediaeval times. One theory is that the name developed in parallel with Ladybird (derived from Our Lady, referring to the biblical Mary) and was established by 1840. Other English names include Devil's coachman or footman and Devil's steed. In Irish they are called "Darbh-daol" devil's beetle and "Coffin cutter". There are a host of dark folklore superstitions surrounding Devil’s Coach-horses, which hasn't exactly helped their reputation.

In some superstitions, as well as being directly associated with the devil himself, they are purported to have eaten the core of Eve's apple and to even have acted as a kind of beetle form of Judas Iscariot and have arched its abdomen to point the way Jesus went during his betrayal. They were also believed to be endowed with magical powers and that when they arched their tail towards someone they were cursing them.

In Ireland it was even believed the beetle could strike a person dead on sight and would eat any sinners they came across. Sadly as a consequence some superstitions rewarded killing them. Although some scythers would put one in their scythe handles to improve their skill (or perhaps speed given their nasty bite!).

Gardening Value of the Devil’s Coach-horse Beetle

Despite their fearsome appearance and agressive defensive mechansims, they do get an unfairly bad rap. Devil's Coach-horses are in fact highly valuable insects to have in the garden and act as a “Gardener’s friend” by hunting garden pests like slugs and caterpillars. In fact one of the Devil’s Coach-horse’s smaller cousins in the Rove beetle family, Atheta coriaria, is even used commercially as a form of biological pest control against certain greenhouse insect pests, including fungus gnats, shore flies and thrips.

Wildlife Value of the Devil’s Coach-horse Beetle

Through their role as a dominant predator species in their niche, they provide eco-system benefits by keeping populations of potential pest species in check naturally, in addition they consume carrion and ensure that nutrients are recycled and returned to the soil.

Brown Roll-rim Mushroom

Gills of a mature Brown roll-rim mushroom, Paxillus involutus

As if that wasnt spooky enough, a large area of my garden surrounding my Birch trees has been beset by the fruiting bodies of what turned out to be a poisonous toadstool called the Brown Roll-rim.

Apparently it is notorious for being particularly treacherous. Originally boiling them was thought to remove all toxins and make them safe to eat, but it was later discovered that the mushroom held a second toxin that build up over a long time and then suddenly kill you by triggering an auto-immune reaction that causes the body to attack its own blood cells. Definitely not one for the pot!

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.

A Killer Digger

One interesting spot I made this summer on my Sea holly was this Ornate Tailed Digger Wasp, Cerceris rybyensis. A first for me and I'd initially thought it a Sawfly or Ichneumon wasp. This tiny wasp hunts small to medium sized bees which are (unfortunately for the poor bees) paralysed by their sting.

That may explain the goodly number of dead bees I noticed and wondered about in late spring and early summer. The females nest in compacted bare ground, sometimes in desnse groups, which also makes sense as there is an area with bare earth from my building work that I deliberately left this season after seeing all the bee (and presumably wasp) burrows.

Ornate Tailed Digger Wasp, Cerceris rybyensis, on Sea Holly, Eryngium planum.

Cerceris rybyensis, Ornate tailed Digger Wasp in profile.

Ornate Tailed Digger Wasp, Cerceris rybyensis top view showing the distinctive, notched yellow band.

Butterfly Count and Drought

Musings on citizen science, extreme weather events and the insect apocalypse.

The Gatekeeper was one of few butterflies that showed well in my “Big Butterfly Count” this year.

Here in Norfolk, the Big Butterfly Count of 2022 seemed to start with a bang but fade with a whimper, as the saying goes.

The Big Butterfly Count, for those who’ve not heard of it, is a national citizen science project aimed at assessing the health of our environment by monitoring butterflies, an insect which often acts as an ecological early warning system due to their complex lifecycle. The annual project runs from the second half of July into the first week of August and is timed to cover the flying period of the greatest number of species. Since it's launch in 2010, it’s become the world’s biggest survey of butterflies according to scheme organisers, the Butterfly Conservation Society.

This season, however, the butterfly recording event was quickly overshadowed by an intense heatwave caused by a so-called “Spanish plume” - a stream of hot air arriving from Spain and North Africa. So instead of counting butterflies, the very first weekend instead saw me hiding inside the house with shutters drawn, as temperatures hit historic records, peaking at 40.3° in Coningsby, Lincolnshire on the 19th July.

At home in mid Norfolk we missed the big 40° by the merest smidge, recording an eye-watering 39.7° and breaking our garden’s previous ten year temperature record by almost 3 degrees from the 36.8° set in July 2018.

Once counting recommenced back in my garden the compact, cheery, orange Gatekeeper, Pyronia tithonus, butterfly and charismatic black and the black and red Six-Spot Burnet, Zygaena filipendulae, a day-flying moth proved the undisputed stars of the show, but my heart sank.

Six-spot Burnet moths also made a good appearance this season in my garden.

Over the course of the three weeks it became impossible to deny that the showing was dismal in comparison with previous years, both in species diversity and especially abundance. Several prior attendees such as the Small Copper, Speckled Wood and Silver Y moth were complete no-shows this year, whilst others like the Common Blue, Ringlet and Painted Lady made only the most fleeting of appearances.

It was hard to feel surprised. As I sat outside gazing at a parched dusty landscape, my pond formed a small oasis of green amidst the barren, dried-out straw-coloured remnants of what would normally still be a thriving wildflower meadow. Climate change definitely seemed to be making its presence felt.

Possibly even more worrying than the record high temperatures was the sheer duration and severity of the drought. Even established, normally drought tolerant shrubs and trees were showing signs of stress, wilting, shedding leaves and in some cases with whole branches dying off in our boundary hedgerow.

Area chart showing the 44% lower precipitation in 2022 YTD vs 2021

We've not been recording rainfall very long but for the year to date (end July), our cumulative precipitation reached just 250ml vs 444ml in 2021, tracking some 44% under last years level, and that hadn’t exactly been a wet year to start with.

This is all very concerning from a butterfly’s perspective. Firstly, flowers can't actually produce nectar with water, making it harder for butterflies to feed, survive, mate and lay eggs. But even worse, with wildflowers going early and grasses that serve as host plants dying en masse, there will be nothing for the caterpillars to eat when they hatch and the next generation will starve. Some butterflies do have adaptive survival tactics, for example going into hibernation early, but others are specialised and more vulnerable.

Climate change itself is already difficult enough, as to survive butterflies need to alter their range whilst facing the triple challenges of habitat loss and a fragmented landscape, agricultural pesticides and urbanisation. Some may not be able to migrate further north, or even if they can, their host plants may not be there, or be able to adapt to changing conditions quickly enough to support them. With numbers already depleted or in decline for many species, it becomes harder each year to find a mate and reproduce. Against this backdrop, extreme weather events such as we've witnessed this year have an intensified negative impact.

Encouragingly just a small patch of nettles in my garden boosted numbers of Small Tortoiseshells and Red Admirals.

Its exactly these challenges and the resulting decline in insect population thath more broadly have led to the term “insect apocalypse” recently being coined to articulate the sheer extent of population and diversity changes being seen in western Europe.

All of this really doesn't augur well for my local Norfolk butterfly population next year. Although perhaps, as is often the case, it may be a case of winners and losers, with timing of broods playing an important role. Hopefully things are not as bleak nationally as they are in my little patch of mid Norfolk. It will be very interesting to see what insights the Big Butterfly Count will bring on the impact of such extreme weather events over the next few years.

One small ray of hope in my garden this year was the reappearance of Small Tortoiseshell and also Red Admiral butterflies, which have struggled of late largely due to a series of developments in my village causing habitat loss. That was all thanks to a small patch of nettles that popped up in the perfect spot - a sheltered sunny corner - and that I had made sure were left alone. This small victory served as a timely reminder of how even small changes to make a garden more wildlife friendly can make a big difference.

How You Can Help Butterflies and Wildlife

The good news is that there is a great deal you can do to help butterflies bounce back and become more resilient in your own garden - they need your help more than ever!

  • Plant a nectar-rich butterfly buffet
    Aim for as long a flowering season as possible, choose single flowered varieties, which produce more nectar than doubles, and include drought tolerant plants such as Lavender Intermedia, Wild Marjoram, Sea Holly (Eryngium planum), Cone Flower (Echinacea purpurae), Wild Carrot and Sedum.

  • Grow and tolerate caterpillar host plants
    Its all about recreating butterfly friendly habitat. Most people know that several Nymph family butterflies use the unpopular Nettles as their caterpillar plants but this can be readily contained to an area and has culinary uses. Other host plants include a wide range of plants and shrubs including Cuckoo Flower, Hedge Garlic, Charlock, Nasturtiums, Holly, Ivy, Bird's-foot Trefoil, Common Sorrel, Common Rock Rose, Heather, Wild Hops, Native Honeysuckle (nb not the garden centre Russian variety), Alder Buckthorn, Gorse, Broom, Blackberry/Bramble as well as Meadow grasses such as Bent, Cock's Foot, Fescues, Tor - grass, False Brome and Yorkshire Fog. Pick a sheltered, mostly sunny site ideally next to a seasonal nectar source for target species and grow a generous patch of the host for critical mass. Use a garden boundary or paving edge to control more vigorous plants like Nettles or Bramble.

  • Get out your watering can
    In dry spells water any native shrubs and trees showing signs of drought stress (use grey and water butt water wherever possible and heed any hosepipe restrictions in your area).

  • Build a wildlife pond
    Ponds serve as a mini oasis and lifeline to a whole host of wildlife in periods of dry weather and make a beautiful garden feature that are fascinating to watch. Think about siting your pond to capture rain and water butt run off, ideally positioning it in partial shade to reduce evaporation and not directly under trees to avoid acidification from leaf fall. Remember to use a flying saucer type shallow sloped profile to enable wildlife to exit safely and don't forget to plant marginal Cuckoo Flower for Orange-tip and Green-veined White butterflies to lay eggs on.

  • Grow a flowering lawn
    Swap your half-dead grass lawn for a butterfly and pollinator friendly, drought resistant flowering lawn instead. Low-growing flowers like Bird’s-foot Trefoil and Clover are a lot more tolerant of dry weather than our standard rye-grass lawns, offer far more to wildlife and are lower maintenance as they don’t require mowing in the summer months either.

  • Be less tidy
    Tidying up and clearing leaf litter or dead grass stalks can often lead to the accidental removal and destruction of butterfly eggs, larvae or pupae. If possible, leave an area untouched all year to help the next generation of butterflies complete their larval lifecycle. Leaving piles of leaves in situe and mowing on the longest setting can help too. Building a bug hotel is a fun project to do with children and will provide hibernating areas for overwintering insects. Also avoid using pesticides, which of course are harmful to pollinators and associated with illness in humans.

Resources

The Big Butterfly Count website

The Met Office temperature record verification

Freshwater Habitats website with excellent resources on building a wildlife pond

An Anthropocene article covering the latest insight into Europe's “Insect Apocalypse”

A pensive article in Emergence magazine on the impact of climate change on butterflies in the Orkneys

Butterfly Conservation website species host plants information

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

Red Admiral on Sea Holly, Erigynium planum

This Red Admiral showed up right at the end of the Big Butterfly Count

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

 

© Kiri Stuart-Clarke 2008-2022.
All Rights Reserved.