| Butterflies
      Top l to r: small tortoiseshell, green-veined white; bottom l to r: common blue, peacock© Top (both images): Dr Chris Gibson/English Nature; bottom l to r: Dr Chris Gibson/English Nature, Robin Chittenden www.harlequinpictures.co.ukAdult butterflies may be attracted to feed on nectar provided by a wide range of garden plants. Michaelmas daisy, iceplant, wild candytuft, valerian, hemp agrimony and hebe are among the species which will usually bring in the colourful members of the Nymphalid family like small tortoiseshell and peacock. In the autumn, rotting fruit like apples and split plums are irresistible to red admirals. Bramble flowers are popular with speckled wood and gatekeeper, while knapweeds and scabious are magnets for many species including marbled white, although this last is a rare garden visitor unless you live very close to downland. However, it's also worth considering the needs of butterflies at other stages of their lifecycle. Stinging nettle is the only foodplant of the caterpillars of small tortoiseshell and peacock and is also sought out by red admiral and comma, which also favours hop. Orange tips lay their eggs on cuckoo flower and brimstone on buckthorn or alder buckthorn. The holly blue needs both holly itself and ivy, while the larvae of brown butterflies such as wall, speckled wood, gatekeeper and meadow brown feed on common grasses such as annual meadow grass, cock's foot and sheep's fescue. None but the most tolerant of gardeners would wish to encourage couch grass but if you can't rid yourself of it, you can at least console yourself that this is the foodplant of the speckled wood, gatekeeper and Essex skipper butterflies! Some species such as small tortoiseshells hibernate, often in houses or sheds. Hibernating adults should be left alone. While only a few species of bird may habitually take butterflies - spotted flycatchers and pied flycatchers being among the most likely predators - opportunists like blue tits will not turn down the chance of this sort of meal if it comes their way. Later in the year, butterflies which have lost part of one or even both wings are a common sight and testament both to their vulnerability to attack and to their ability to escape, at least with their lives. Dragonflies may be more successful as butterfly predators. Common lizards are one predator of butterflies at rest. Caterpillars provide food for a wide range of bird species, as well as for common lizards, toads and some small mammals like hedgehogs, although many species have defence mechanisms including spines or a nauseous taste or smell. Many are parasitised by a variety of species of wasp and fly. The pupae of all British species are protected from predation either by cryptic colouring, concealment within a cocoon or by being placed in inconspicuous positions. PlantsAlder buckthorn, Apple, Autumn hawkbit, Bergamot, Black currant, Bramble, Broad-leaved everlasting-pea, Buckthorn, Bush vetch, Butterfly bush, Chicory, Common bird's-foot-trefoil, Common knapweed, Common nettle, Common rock-rose, Common sea-lavender, Common thyme, Coneflower, Crested dog's-tail, Cuckooflower, Devil's-bit scabious, Fat-hen, Field scabious, Flowering currrant, Garden candytuft, Greater knapweed, Hawthorn, Hebe, Hemp-agrimony, Hoary stock, Holly, Hop, Horseshoe vetch, Ivy, Large thyme, Maiden pink, Michaelmas daisy, Narrow-leaved everlasting-pea, Orpine, Pennyroyal, Red clover, Red valerian, Sea aster, Sea-holly, Sea-holly, Sheep's fescue, Spear thistle, Sweet vernal-grass, Water-cress, Water mint, White clover, Wild basil, Wild candytuft, Wild marjoram, Wild mignonette PredatorsBlue tit, Common shrew, Fox, Garden orb-web spider, Hornet, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Leiobunum rotundum, Misumena vatia, Pied flycatcher, Red ant, Redstart, Redwing, Song thrush, Southern hawker dragonfly, Spotted flycatcher, Whitethroat, Willow warbler, Xysticus cristatus ButterfliesBrimstone, Comma, Common blue, Gatekeeper, Green-veined white, Holly blue, Large skipper, Meadow brown, Orange-tip, Painted lady, Peacock, Red admiral, Small copper, Small skipper, Small tortoiseshell, Small white, Speckled wood, Wall brown |
