Butterflies & Moths

Monday 11 th April saw a talk on butterflies and moths by John Ellis, records and information officer NWT. It was certainly a whistle stop tour of our fluttering friends, so many….. slides and even longer Latin names. I would stick to the common English ones if I were you!

There are 70 species of butterfly and 2500 – 3000 moth species in Great Brtiain, therefore a decent field book will be needed for identification. Take it with you to Bingham disused railway line, apparently the best place in Nottinghamshire to see butterflies. Some of the butterflies in and around are yearly migrants, travelling across

The water from Europe, spending the summer with us before returning or hibernating

For the winter. Brimstone is the first butterfly you are most likely to see during March and April. Buckthorne is the preferred plant for Brimstone caterpillars, green in colour with black spots with green and white stripes. Developing into this wonderful bright yellow butterfly. Followed by an array of camouflage species Comma Polygonia c-album, who’s caterpillar prefers nettles, Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta Gatekeeper Pyronia tithonus getting it’s name from flying around hedgerows usually spotting them as you enter through gateways. Gatekeeper caterpillars are green or brown striped feeding on cocksfoot. Small tortoiseshell Aglais urticae swamping the Buddleia in our gardens. Followed by whites with black veins, whites with green veins, Marbled whites orange tips, small copper, Larege skipper and moving on to the moths the list is endless, Perhaps next time around if you missed all the names a field trip could be organised?

Unfortunately most butterflies and moths only live several days, some are lucky to last a few weeks, so please think twice before you stick a pin through them.

And as a final point ,forget all the money your about to spend on mercury vapour lights etc … Just go for a walk in the countryside and relieve yourself beneath a tree, stand back and watch the butterflies flock. Apparently they enjoy the salts in your urine!! A new nectar !!??.

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