Straight off the back of National Insect Week, we've been sent in some fantastic photographs by Nature's Home reader, Mark Rutter - one of our favourites being this white admiral feeding on a bramble flower. This is one of our rarer butterfly species, and one of the most threatened too. You may well be familiar with the red admiral, with its striking red flash on black wings, but as the name suggests - white is the order of the day for this contender, which makes it a very outstanding species indeed...
White admirals are larger than their rouge counterpart. Found in mature woodland, they need lots of open glades to provide sunny hot spots amongst the otherwise dense canopy. Their larvae feed on honeysuckle which is often associated with woodland rides. They are more commonly found in the southern Britain, so RSPB reserves such as Garston Woods in Dorset, or Blean Woods in Kent are good places to look, but it’s well worth heading to your nearest woodland over the next few weeks to enjoy some wonderful woodland butterfly spectacles no matter where you are. Let us know what you see!
These beautiful images also demonstrate the importance of a very underrated, and often deemed 'invasive' plant - the bramble. The flowers provide many insects with valuable nectar at this time of year, so if you've got a patch blooming in the garden, chances are you'll see many visitors frequenting the flowers throughout the day - just set aside a little time to watch, it'll be worth it!
Mark also managed to capture a view of the white admiral's folded wing features too (pictured). Finally - did you spot the little hitchhiker in the first image? Let us know who you think he is in the comments box below.
"Just thought I’d send over several images from my recent trips to a couple of local reserves in my area. Firstly, my first ever trip to Blean Woods where I spent a brilliant hour or so stood in the same patch of nettles and brambles waiting for a dragonfly to land (later to be identified as a female emperor, pictured). I got bitten all over the place, but during my time there I managed to get pictures of not only my first white admiral butterfly, but also a single, rare heath fritillary fluttered into view and landed a few feet away too (also pictured)"
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Images: Mark Rutter
Oh, wow. These winged creatures are majestic. I've seen close up images of a butterfly's face and they look like something straight out of a horror movie, but they are the epitome of ephemerous. Beautiful, but short-lived. I'm a gardener, and it's impossible not to be left in awe by their beauties.
Also, if you need people for some landscaping that understand how important butterflies are for the ecosystem, you can click here to get in touch with them. I always call them when it comes to earthworks around our estate because they know how vital each piece of the puzzle is in nature.