Butterflies

We love to watch butterflies in the garden and we grow lots of high-nectar plants for them to feed on. Fortunately we are bordered by lots of stinging nettles which are food plants for the caterpillars of several species. Another food plant for Orange-Tip Butterflies. Cardamine pratensis ("Lady's Smock" here in Cheshire, "Milk Maids" in Essex where we come from) grows wild in the fields around us. We also leave windfall apples for late flying butterflies to feed on - watch them get tipsy on the fermenting juice.

All the pictures below are from our garden.

Click here for a list of butterflies recorded in our garden.

To help conserve Britain's butterflies you can join Butterfly Conservation.

Red Admirals are one of my favourites but they are more shy than some other types and are more likely to be disturbed when trying to get a close up.

But here on Joe Pie Weed (Eupatorium maculatum Atropurpurem) this one was too happy feeding to be concerned with me.

The name "Red Admiral" apparently has nothing to do with the sea or sailors (although these butterflies do cross the sea to migrate to the UK), but is a corruption of "Red Admirable".

Red Admiral butterfly and Honey bee on Joe Pie Weed

Here is the same individual with wings closed showing the underwing pattern. I love his or hers stripy antennas.

Next to him or her is a busy honey bee.

Painted Lady butterflies have become more common in our garden over the last 5 years or so and are flying from May, suggesting they are over-wintering here. They seem to be territorial and chase each other frequently.

Heleniums are probably one of the best flowers for butterflies between July and October.

A Painted Lady again, with wings closed. Eye patterns on the wings are designed to scare or at least distract predators.

Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly on Helenium

The Small Tortoiseshell butterfly is one of the most common in our garden, but is probably less so in recent years.

Small Tortoiseshell butterfliers on Scabious Butterfly Blue

Scabious are great butterfly plants and "Butterfly Blue" lives up to the first part of its name (its not really very "blue" though). Two Small Tortoiseshells feed on the nectar

In close up the Small Tortoiseshell's wings are even more jewel-like.

The Comma butterfly also likes Scabious - this time the Pale Yellow variety, Scabiosa ochroleuca.

Commas are thus called because of a tiny white "comma" on the underside of each wing.

Peacock butterflies are quite hard to photograph with a handheld camera as they really don't like being approached.

They love the nectar rich flowers of Echinacea.

Their name of course comes from the large Peacock tail "eyes" on their wings.

White butterflies are often overlooked or seen as a pest because they lay their eggs on plants from the cabbage family and their caterpillars soon munch their way through the leaves. However they are abundant and a joy to watch, so encourage them with Verbena bonairiensis and cover your cabbages with a butterfly proof net. (Watch out for caterpillars on your Nasturtiums). This is a Small White.

Gatekeeper butterflies are quite common in our garden, often present in large numbers. They particularly like Heleniums, Oregano and Lavender

The Meadow Brown is quite similar to the Gatekeeper (above) but has only one white spot on the eye (gatekeeper has two) and no series of white spots on the undersides of the wing and is (I think) a bit bigger. Here enjoying Achillea Moonshine in late June

The Common Blue is anything but blue at rest with its wings closed like here on the flower bud of Succisella inflexa during August.

The Holly Blue at rest is completely different to the Common Blue with beautiful shimmering silver-blue under wings. It is feeding on Echinops ritro, the Globe Thistle and don't the two blues complement each other so well? A butterfly of great taste!.

When the Holly Blue opens its wings the true-blue colour is revealed together with the dark edge to the forewings.

The Small Copper doesn't arrive in our garden until August and is a lovely little thing. Here it is on Helenium Patsy.

Speckled Wood butterflies arrive in May and again in September.

List of recorded species:

Brimstone
Comma
Common Blue
Gatekeeper
Green-Veined White
Holly Blue
Large White
Meadow Brown
Orange Tip
Painted Lady
Peacock
Red Admiral
Small Copper
Small Tortoiseshell
Small White
Speckled Wood

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