One of the butterflies we see in abundance during April at Flatford is the cheery orange-tip butterfly having emerged from its chrysalis around this time.
David Kjaer (rspb-images.com)
The male butterfly is the one with the orange-tip, but the female is more of a “grey-tip”. She’s easy to identify as she also has the distinct dot on each fore-wing and a dark body.
They particularly like to lay their little orange eggs on garlic mustard plants, known also rather amusingly as “Jack-by-the hedge”! It’s a common weed really but like so many weeds, it has a value for wildlife and does have a discreet pretty little white flower.
Rosalyn, Flatford Garden Volunteer
There should be plenty to see at moment as the orange-tip is a common butterfly across the UK with a low concern in terms of conservation as currently, it’s numbers are thriving. To encourage orange-tips to the garden some of their other favourite plants are the cuckoo flower and sweet honesty.
Children love to look for butterflies with their bright colours, constant movement and the fact that they’re not scary, generally won’t crawl onto you, sting or bite so they’re great to seek, count and admire outside with the little ones.
Usually at Flatford we have many garden events through spring for whole family to experience but for now, we’re encouraging families to experience more in their own gardens. There are lots of ideas and activities to get involved with as part of our wild challenge campaign which you can find out more about here: https://www.rspb.org.uk/fun-and-learning/for-families/family-wild-challenge/what-is-wild-challenge/
You can also find more information about the orange-tip and other butterflies on our RSPB website as well as the Butterfly Conservation site: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/other-garden-wildlife/insects-and-other-invertebrates/butterflies/
https://butterfly-conservation.org/butterflies/orange-tip