Thanks to volunteer Phil for his report and photos
During the lockdown, I’ve been out on my daily exercise photographing these lively and colourful insects. Several people with little knowledge of butterflies have stopped and asked what I’ve seen, and this article is written with similar readers in mind.
Spring butterflies are largely ones that favour gardens and sunny areas where there are nearby shrubs, trees and wayside flowers. Butterflies of more open countryside tend to emerge later in the season.
To understand butterflies better it helps to know not just their appearance and size, but what the adults and their caterpillars feed on. The latter is called the foodplant. Many adult butterflies feed on flowers, but some use honeydew, a sweet substance secreted in trees by aphids. Some perch on bare ground from which they can ingest useful minerals. In autumn they use overripe fruit. Caterpillar foodplants vary widely from grasses through wildflowers to shrubs and trees, but some species are very restricted about these which may cause problems if the foodplant declines.
Often the first Springtime butterfly to emerge from hibernation is the large lemon yellow male brimstone with its unusual scallop shaped wings. This restless insect uses yellow flowers in Spring, always perching with wings folded to reveal pale green underwings.
Brimstone butterfly (Phil Thornton)
Later in the year it progresses to other colours. Its foodplant is buckthorn. The more secretive females appear white but are also pale green underneath.
Next a group of butterflies which hibernate in winter and emerge in early Spring. They all perch frequently on bare ground and use nettles as their foodplant. These are the peacock, with staring eyes designed to deter predators, the comma with strange ragged wings, and the pretty small tortoiseshell. They feed on a wide range of flowers and rarely seem to fly far.
Peacock butterfly (Phil Thornton)
Most butterflies are sun lovers but some will tolerate more shade. Two Springtime butterflies are honeydew feeders and are therefore more associated with shady trees and shrubs. First, the holly blue is most often seen fluttering around trees or shrubs or perched on leaves. This lives up to its name and in Spring uses holly as a foodplant.
Holly Blue (Phil Thornton)
The second is the speckled wood, often seen on the ground, which uses a variety of grasses as foodplants. Males are often seen sparring together in a spiralling fashion,
Speckled Wood (Phil Thornton)
Finally I must mention my favourite UK butterfly, the orange tip. This common restless Springtime wanderer along sunny woodside paths is largely white, but the males have a bright orange tip to the forewings, which looks cheerful but is actually a warning sign to predators.
Orange Tip (Phil Thornton)
It feeds on a variety of wayside flowers some of which, eg cuckooflower and garlic mustard, are used as foodplants. Its real beauty is the amazing green and white camouflage pattern underneath its hindwing. When it perches on certain types of umbelliferous plant such as cow parsley it folds its wings to become completely camouflaged.
Orange tip underwing camouflage (Phil Thornton)
I will introduce other species in later editions.