Butterflies in the garden

Now that I'm starting to do some serious gardening again, I am trying to think what plants and garden features are beneficial to resident and visiting wildlife. In this post, I am going to focus on butterflies. I like to observe wildlife including butterflies and often record what I see using either iRecord or during the Big Butterfly Count. Here, I will use the photos taken in the garden and elsewhere to identify which plants are attractive to butterflies.

Gatekeeper - making the most of July warmth.

Many of my photos show butterflies basking in the sun - on sunlit leaves, fences, grasses, rocks, bare earth etc. So places where they can find warmth are important.

The summer banquet

The Butterfly Conservation people have a page on Gardening with butterflies in mind.  They list the best plants for summer nectar and these are very much in line with my expectations. One of the more useful hints is to plant nectar rich plants in sunny parts of the garden.

Peacock on Verbena Bonariensis - July

One of the plants they recommend is Verbena Bonariensis, which also comes right at the top of my personal list of flowers attractive to butterflies. This is consistent with the results of a more general survey I did in 2014.

Holly Blue on Marjoram - July

Another summer favourite is wild Marjoram.  The browns seem to particularly attracted to this plant if it is growing close to long grass.

Snacking through the rest of the year

Small Copper on Aster - September

As the days shorten and the summer flowers fade away, Asters and Sedums are a good source of nectar.  Butterflies will also feed on fruit. The Natural History Museum page - How to attract butterflies to your garden - suggests putting fruit on the compost heap for them. Our compost heap is in a shaded corner, so I drop overripe or fallen fruit into a sunny patch. I've sometimes seen Red Admirals feeding on it.

Red Admiral on Mahonia - November

On the subject of Red Admirals, these can be seen flying during the winter months and are likely to need a winter snack. Mahonia is very popular with these butterflies and many other pollinators. Be sure to get the type with the long spikes of flowers that bloom during the winter months. Avoid the type that blooms in spring when there is plenty of other food around.

Brimstone on Sweet Violets - March

Butterflies will take nectar from early spring flowers such as Violets.  Many will visit Blackthorn blossom and Lesser celandine but these two are thugs that will swamp garden plants.

Speckled Wood on Bowles Mauve Perennial Wallflower - May

The Perennial Wallflower, Bowles Mauve, appears on the Butterfly Conservation summer nectar list andit starts flowering in April and so bridges the gap between the early spring flowers and the classic, summer butterfly flowers.

Caterpillars need to eat too

Peacock on Stinging Nettle - June

Sorry, I'm a bad nature lover and have no intention of having a nettle patch in our garden. Luckily our neighbour doesn't cut the nettles in his parking area and I think this is where our steady supply of Red Admirals and Peacocks comes from.  The Butterfly Conservation gardening page links to a list of food plants (pdf) and the Natural History Museum page advises allowing your garden to be wild around the edges. I suggest wild corners rather than edges. The difference between a wildlife-friendly garden and a mess is tidy edges, a prominently positioned log pile and a bird box.

Metamorphose in peace 

Green-Veined White on Garlic Mustard - I check old stems before composting

When a caterpillar is changing into a butterfly it protects and disguises itself in a pupa. They hide away in all sorts of places so be careful what you clear away. I cringe whenever I think about the way that I used to carefully leave Garlic Mustard (Jack-in-the-Hedge) as a food plant for Orange Tip and Green-veined White caterpillars and then cleared away the stems that probably had pupa attached.

Do butterflies dream of electric flowers?

I don't know if butterflies sleep but they do need somewhere hide away at night. If I brush against our hedge as I pass it first thing, a cloud of brown and orange butterflies - Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers - appears.  While taking evening walks along the A45, which runs alongside a hotel I regularly stayed in while at Birmingham, I saw Large Whites disappear into the canopies of trees alongside the road. So hedges, shrubs and trees provide butterflies with useful shelter.

Next steps

I think we are doing reasonably well with our butterflies but I need to focus more on caterpillar food plants. Of those mentioned in the Butterfly Conservation (pdf) list, we have all sorts of rough grasses, Bird's Foot Trefoil, Garlic Mustard, Violets, Blackthorn, Sorrel/Dock, Holly and Ivy. This means I have both butterflies and food plants. The next step is to find out if the butterflies are breeding in the garden - and that means getting down on my hands and knees to find caterpillars.

Big Butterfly Count - 2017

This post outlines my results for the 2017 Big Butterfly Count. I didn't even have to wait for results to know that 2017 was a much better year for butterflies than 2016. This year I decided to do my counts in as many different places as possible so I don't have as many garden counts as usual.

Counts from an Uckfield (Sussex) garden

I recorded more butterflies per count than in previous years.

Year	Number of garden counts	Average number of butterflies	Total number of species	Most numerous species
2014	10	6.6	10	Gatekeeper
2015	12	9	13	Gatekeeper
2016	10	6.1	8	Large White
2017	4	11.75	9	Meadow Brown

For the first time, since I started taking part in this survey, Small Coppers appeared in my counts.

Small Copper in our Uckfield garden.

One morning, when coming back from getting my newspaper, I saw several Six-spot Burnet Moths clinging to the long grasses in our no-mow zone. I started my count right away so I could include them.  I found a chrysalis attached to one of the stems and wondered if they were all newly emerged.

Six-spot Burnet moth in our Uckfield garden.

The graph below shows that Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers dominated my garden counts.  Last year, Large Whites took the lead.

Butterflies counted in our Uckfield garden during 4 counts.

Hempstead Meadow Nature Reserve, Uckfield

I did one count at Hempstead Meadow.

Hempstead Meadow	count 1
Common Blue	3
Gatekeeper	4
Large White	1
Meadow Brown	5
Red Admiral	1
Ringlet	1
Small Copper	1
Speckled Wood	1

I was charmed to see a trio of Common Blues dancing around the Meadow Vetchling in the grassy area.

Common Blue dancing amongst the vetchling flowers.

West Park Nature Reserve, Uckfield

I did two counts in West Park Local Nature Reserve and someone else did a third. I know about the third count because the Big Butterfly Count results page enables you to zoom in on a location and find out more about the counts taken there. The counter found a fantastic number of Common Blues.

West Park Nature Reserve	count 1	count 2	count 3
Common Blue		4	10
Gatekeeper	5	3	10
Large White			2
Meadow Brown	5	2	4
Red Admiral		1	1
Ringlet	2
Silver Y	1
Small Copper		1	1
Speckled Wood			1

Of course, there are butterflies that I missed. One of the ones that got away was a possible Fritillary in West Park. It was big, orange and too fast for me to catch up with. I also did some counts in Leatherhead, where I took the photo below.

Silver Washed Fritillary - Leatherhead

Now I just need to wait for the results of the whole count to be analysed and published.

Biological Recorders' Seminar - Sussex Biodiversity

Biological Recording is noting, and sharing, information about the plants and creatures that we find. This knowledge enables wildlife organisations and others to map and help wildlife. Some recorders specialise in a particular group of species and others (like myself) record different types.  I started recording fairly seriously when I did the 2014 Garden Bioblitz and record most of my finds in iRecord.  On the 11th of February, I attended the 28th Biological Recorders' Seminar, which was organised by the Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre.  There was a wealth of information, so I will just pick out a few items from the main talks.


Delegates gathering for the Chairman's Welcome.

Record Centre update

Claire Blencowe explained:

• some of the challenges in the balance between the desire for open data (as now required by Natural England) and being fair to the recorders who have entrusted county centres with their records
• the contribution of Peter Hodge who provided approximately 50,000 beetle records in 14 densely written note books
• that they have recently been surveying Local Wildlife Sites (Uckfield examples are West Park and Snatts Road Cemetery).

Saltmarsh Recreation

Barry Yates outlined how they restored salt marshes at Sussex Wildlife Trust's Rye Harbour nature reserve. They used a 1950s RAF photo as a guide to what they wished to achieve although they had to make some adjustments to fit in with modern developments.  Systematic recording shows how successful the scheme has been.

Developing an ID resource with support from a museum

Chloe Rose explained her contribution to creating a key to a particular type of wasp using the specimens kept at the Natural History Museum. She did this work as part of the Identification Trainers for the Future project, in which trainees produce a range of materials designed to help support naturalists in their own identification work. So far they have produced keys for grasses and orchids.

Weevils

Weevils are a type of beetle. Characteristics include:

• a rostrum (snout)
• elbowed antenna, which are clubbed at the end
• heart shaped feet.

Mark Guerney has provided guides at www.tinyurl/weevilguides and suggested that Twitter users follow @WeevilRS.


Look out behind you!

Forest Row Natural History Group

Tom Forward and Brad Scott said that the group:

• grew out of a meeting in a pub
• has monthly 'meetings', which are usually walks around the village area
• has regular talks
• gets involved with events such as national fungus day
• record flora and fauna in a 1km square, which embraces the community farm
• keep in touch through a Facebook page and their Nature's book website.

I have encountered this friendly group online through the New Year's Plant Hunt and it was great to put faces to names.

Slugs, why bother?

Before the event, Chris de Feu had asked us to bring in any slugs that we found so he could identify them. So the day had started with a trail of people dutifully dropping off plastic containers with their slimy little finds and watching with fascination while Chris examined and identified them.


Iberian Three band Slug

He said that if you wish to ID a slug from a photo, you should photograph from the following angles:

• underneath - maybe using a Perspex sheet
• right-hand side - so you can see the breathing pore
• above - to see the overall shape.

... and to answer the original question - very few people record slugs so we know very little about their distribution and how it is changing. Chris also found that people were very motivated by being able to put a new dot on the map, which is easier for an unpopular group.  On the day of the seminar, Chris examined 119 slugs brought in by the public and had identified 17 of the 28 species found in Sussex.

The Sussex Butterfly Atlas

Michael Blencowe gave a highly entertaining talk about the creation of a new Sussex Butterfly Atlas. The first person to note a proper record (with an exact date) was William Markwick, who recorded a Swallowtail in Catsfield on the 22nd of May 1770. 

Small Tortiseshell - the regular resident, with black legs.

Some points from survey:

• Meadow Browns, which have featured strongly in my own Big Butterfly Counts, were found in every single map square throughout Sussex.
• The spectacular Purple Emperor, which eluded many experienced recorders, was found in a cat litter tray - it likes poo
• The addition of Continental Swallowtails, Longtailed Blues and Scarce (Yellow Legged)Tortiseshells to the Sussex lists
• The loss of the Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries from Sussex. Numbers of these butterflies spiked a few years ago but seem to have been wiped out by mild winters and wet Junes.

Scuttle, Spring, Slither and Slide

Paul Stevens emphasised highlighted that many familiar species such as the Common Frog are very badly under recorded and asked us all to record them. This can be important because, for example, it can highlight where amphibians have to cross roads to get to their breeding pond.

Frogs are beginning to emerge and need to be recorded.

BN5 Owl Project

David Plummer gave an excellent account of the BN5 Owl Project accompanied by his own spectacular photos. There was a wealth of detail. systematically collected over years, but the thing that really got my attention was the high density of Tawny Owls near the village itself. David suggested that they might be using the gardens and the corridor provided by the disused railway line. His tip for those using recordings to elicit owl calls was to use the recording then wait at least five minutes for a response as the presence of a human is likely to delay their reaction to the invader.

Summing up

My takeaways from the day were:

• The Sussex Biodiversity team have recently been surveying Local Wildlife Sites including those in the Uckfield area.
• It is important to record apparently common and/or insignificant creatures such as frogs and beetles. This knowledge will help wildlife organisations track changes in population and spot a decline or invasion.
• I can get help with identification from more places than I thought. In a future post, I will curate some online sources.
• Much of the best work is being done by amateurs. They are only amateur in the sense that they are not being paid for the work they have put in and the expertise that they have developed.

Robin in Hempstead Meadows Nature Reserve - 28 Jan 2017

Thinking about my own recording, it has been helping me enjoy nature more deeply:

• Because recording requires me to identify plants and creatures to a species level, I have learnt much more about identification.
• Now that I've built up a couple of years' worth of records in iRecord, it is easy to go back to an observation rather than scrabbling through old photos and journals.
• Using social media while taking part in recording events such as the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch has put me in contact other people who are interested in local wildlife.
• Being caught in the act of photographing a insect or peering through binoculars has led to local people telling me about their own wildlife encounters.

30 Days Wild - Days 27 and 28 - Keeping it Local

30 Days Wild is drawing to a close. I wondered about trying to do something special for this weekend but, in the end, I had too much stuff that just had to be dealt with so I just kept it local.

Saturday, 27th June

For some reason I decided it would be a really good idea to go butterfly hunting before I was properly up, so apologies to early bird neighbours 'treated' to the sight of me chasing butterflies round garden while still in my dressing gown.

Um. Sorry.

All I can say in my defence is that it is from the excellent Carvills in our town, so I'm supporting local independent shops. Also I managed to get my first sighting of a meadow brown this year, 2 weeks later than in 2014.

Meadow Brown.

Once I was properly up (and dressed) I went across the road for a newspaper and enjoyed the sight of the Brighter Uckfield/The Uckfield Singers Community Choir planter in full bloom. Even better, there were two white-tailed bumble bees feasting on the flowers.

Planter outside Tesco Express on Manor Park, Uckfield.

White-tailed bumble bee on begonia.

One of the big treats of the weekend was opening up my Trail Camera to find out who has been visiting.

Another day-time visit - this time in good light.

Two young foxes have visited 3 times in the last 2 weeks.

It was particularly nice to see the young foxes visiting as, on Saturday afternoon, I found some soft, almost downy, brown fur. My guess is that the young foxes are beginning to shed their baby fluff.

Sunday, 28th June

Since we replaced the back window, we've had some birds hit it, including the unfortunate blackbird that I mentioned in 30 Days Wild - Days 7 to 12 - Travelling. I've added some stickers (from Allsorts in Uckfield) to try and prevent collisions.

Butterfly stickers on our back window.

After arranging my stickers, I did a little potting up and was amazed and delighted to see the tail-end of a bee disappearing into a small volcano-like hole in the earth between some paving slabs. I've seen various mining and leafcutter bees around the garden so it is good to see them making nests.

I spent most of the day editing the wild-life friendly part of the garden at the front. There is a fine line between a fairly natural-looking space and a mess. Part of that is keeping paths passable. The red-valerian is now more-or-less upright rather than sprawled over the paving, the forsythia will no longer whack tall people when they walk to our door and the lilac is now tree-shaped. While I was doing all this, I found an assortment of insects - so I'll leave you with some love bugs.

Mating Hawthorn Sheildbugs.

 

Red Arrows, Devils and Admirals over Uckfield

What a summer it has been for aerial wonders.  In just a few weeks we have had an amazing series of flypasts by aircraft of all sorts. Closer to the ground, birds and tiny insects have been joining the display too.

Belgian Red Devils over Manor Park, Uckfield

On July the 26th the Belgian Red Devils display team flew over Uckfield to mark the unveiling of the memorial to Eugene Seghers. While I waited for them in the garden I enjoyed watching the butterflies, which I had been counting for the big butterfly count, fluttering round our flowers. 

Emperor dragonfly - similar to the one seen in our garden.

As we moved into August, we were honoured by almost daily visits by an emperor. It flew in glittering circles for several minutes at a time, bobbing and dipping as it hunted its prey.  Anything that escaped the attentions of the dragonfly and was still flying at dusk may well have ended up as a meal for the bats that fluttered and swooped round our front garden.

Hoverfly (Volucella Inanis) on our Marjoram

While I was waiting for the Red arrows team to come over, I was entertained by colourful hoverflies buzzing round our flowers.  I’ve been looking at them more closely this year and have identified 10 different species – and those are just the ones that are big and slow enough for me to get a photo.

The Red Arrows - not a great photo but I was pleased to get a camera on them at all.

Towards the end of the some days, swifts screamed overhead. Apparently they never stop flying, not even in sleep.  As summer drifts into autumn, these summer visitors have started their long migration to Africa.

Comma butterfly - a sign that autumn is on its way?

After the wonderful, idiosyncratic procession of aircraft coming away from Shoreham at the end of August, we start to see V’s of geese flying to and from their feeding grounds. Newly minted red admirals and colourful commas herald the coming of autumn.

The Big Butterfly Count 2014

It's not often that I get an excuse for wandering round the garden for quarter of an hour but the Big Butterfly Count gave me one. Between the 19th of July and the 10th of August, people all over the country counted butterflies for periods of 15 minutes. This fine example of citizen science is backed by The Butterfly Conservation people. This year’s results can be found on the web site.  

I did 10 counts in our Uckfield garden. Here is my top five countdown ...

At number 5, the Small Tortoiseshells. There were just 3 in my counts but, as a Guardian article explains, their numbers have been very low over the last few years and have recovered due to the wet weather earlier in the year, which boosted the nettles that feed their caterpillars.

Small Tortoiseshell on a dahlia.

We have a joint number 4 this week, with 4 sightings each: Red Admiral and the Ringlets. The Red Admiral was probably the first butterfly I became aware of as a child, as it visited the asters and buddleia in our London garden. I’ve only become aware of the Ringlet this year. The open wings are the colour of fine dark chocolate and it was only when I started looking at the butterflies properly for the count that I realised that they were not Meadow Browns.

Ringlet

At number 3, with 11 records, Large Whites appeared to dance around the garden.  Lovely to see but, in previous years, their caterpillars have wreaked havoc by chomping through nasturtium leaves.

At number 2, with 14 sightings, modest Meadow Browns fluttered round marjoram during the earlier weeks of the count.

Finally, in the lead with 24 sightings, orange and brown Gatekeepers, seemed to explode from beneath my feet almost every time I walked across our shaggy grass.

Gatekeeper

We have had a super variety of butterflies in the garden this year.  This chart shows the totals from my 10 counts.

Sadly there are some absences such as Holly Blue and Small Copper. We can only hope that they’ll be back another year.

Celandines and peacocks

I look on the sea of golden stars that covers parts of our garden with mixed feelings. The stars are lesser celandine (Ranunculus ficaria), a plant that is a beautiful thug.

 

Beautiful but smothering blanket of celandine.

The flowers are very attractive to early butterflies. Yesterday I saw two peacock butterflies feasting on the little yellow stars.


Peacock butterfly on a rather limp daffodil.

The problem with wild celandine is that it spreads like crazy and smothers other small plants such as wood anemone that emerge at the same time of year. The RHS page on Celandine suggests some methods of control. We hand weed them in selected areas but you have to be very careful to remove the bunches of tubers intact. Otherwise you are just spreading them around. Another trick is to make sure that they are sharing space with bigger plants such as hellebores that can stand up for themselves.

There are some cultivated varieties that are a bit better behaved. We have some of the bronze leaved Brazen Hussy. This variety has bronzed, almost black leaves. Although it doesn't spread anywhere near as quickly as its green cousin, you still need to keep an eye on it. The butterflies seem to like it well enough.

Brazen hussy.

There are other varieties too. We quite often find doubles that have spontaneously developed from the singles in our grass. Celandine is a pretty but troublesome plant. Don't let the wild one into your garden if you can possibly avoid it but if you are stuck with it, enjoy the show.

Lambs

Just over a month ago, it all started kicking off in the garden. Now spring seems to be full swing.  The gardens are blazing with daffodils, primroses and all sorts of other spring flowers.  Blackthorn is out and pink blossom is everywhere.
 

Watercolour of spring flowers.

A fox or two has visited most nights and we have had another visit from the badger. We have had all sorts of butterflies including peacock, small tortoiseshell, yellow brimstone, comma and red admirals.

Best of all, while driving round the Uckfield bypass this morning, I saw lambs. Spring really is here.

Sketch of ewe and lambs.