This afternoon I spent a couple of hours at the Suffolk Wildlife Trust North Cove reserve on the lookout for butterflies. From previous experience I knew that the reserve was home to various species but I must admit that I was surprised to spot 12 different varieties in the time I was there. Not all species were photographed so I will just include the more unusual varieties or the more attractive.
The Brimstone butterfly emerges from hibernation early around April and only has one brood in the year which feed from the Buckthorn tree or the Alder Buckthorn. The adults emerge again in August when they feed on nectar until hibernation in late September. They are bright yellow in colour which is more noticeable in flight as their wings are often closed when feeding.
The Peacock butterfly is amazingly common here with literally hundreds on the wing at the moment and is another species that normally has one brood per year before hibernating often indoors or in sheds. The larval stage requires the Common Stinging Nettle to feed on so the species is found widely over the country.
The Comma butterfly is more of a woodland species not often seen in our gardens and usually has two broods each summer and therefore can be seen during most of the warmer months. It too, in it's larval stage can feed on Nettles but can also use the Hop, Elm, Sallow, Gooseberry and Current plants.
The White Admiral is another butterfly of the woodland and in it's adult form loves to feed on Bramble flowers. It emerges as an adult in late June or July and is on the wing until August laying its eggs on Honeysuckle plants. When the eggs hatch into caterpillars they feed on the Honeysuckle into the autumn then hibernate and wake up in the spring to carry on feeding, pupate and then emerge as adults in the summer. Because it requires Honeysuckle in unmanaged woodland it is not a common butterfly but is found over a wide area of the south of the country in small numbers.
The Red Admiral is a much more common species some of which migrate from the continent in the spring. It too requires the Common Nettle to feed on in the larval stage and is one of the more successful species as it can hibernate in any stage of it's life cycle.
The Painted Lady butterfly is unusual in that it migrates from Africa up through Europe sometimes over several generations but when autumn arrives the adults in this country have to head south as our winters are too cold for them to survive. In this country the larval form can feed on a variety of plants including Nettles, Thistles, Mallow, Burdock and even Garden Runner Beans.
The Gatekeeper is a very common butterfly of grassland areas and is predominantly brown in colour with orange patches on the wings. It is another butterfly that overwinters as an immature caterpillar feeding on various grasses and is on the wing from mid July until September.
The Ringlet is dark brown in colour with the males being a sooty brown and the females slightly lighter. It overwinters in the same way as the Gatekeeper and feeds on similar grasses but the adult emerges earlier in late June lasting to the end of August.
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