One of the great joys of early summer is the
buzz in the garden of wildlife everywhere going about its
business, creating a wonderful feeling of a habitat brimming
with life. Birds and insects in particular are around in
abundance now so the next few weeks could be a good time to
become more familiar with some of the less obvious butterflies
that may visit your garden.
Over the last couple of months we have welcomed
the bright spring butterflies – the brimstone, small
tortoiseshell, peacock and comma – and as the days have
lengthened and warmed, red admiral may have appeared, common
and holly blue, orange tip and the small, large and green
veined whites. Many observant gardeners will be familiar with
these species as they are relatively easy to get to know –
their distinctive bright colours make them straightforward to
tell apart. The peacock’s ‘eyes’, the orange tip’s orange
tips and the tiny common blue’s sparkling azure wings with
orange and black spots on the undersides – even the names of
these butterflies help to make them relatively easy to
identify. Summer however brings the group generally known as
the ‘Browns’, butterflies that many people have difficulty
with, although like so much in life, familiarity and a little
effort makes it all a lot easier.
The Browns belong to the Nymphalidae family,
and have in common the fact that all of them lay their eggs on
a variety of species of native grasses. Also in common are the
facts that they have relatively short antennae and small
eyespots of some sort on their wings. The latter are thought
to deter predatory birds which instinctively aim for the spots
when attacking. This strategy helps to keep the vulnerable
part of the butterfly, the soft body, away from harm. Many a
butterfly is seen with a beak sized piece missing from a wing
yet is still able to fly adequately, so this is clearly a
sacrifice well worth making.
Most of the Browns are fond of knapweed as a
nectar source although wild marjoram is excellent for
gatekeepers. This means that a small wildflower meadow in
your garden is a huge advantage if you wish to see them in any
quantity. If you have an allotment, any surrounding grassy
strips with wildflowers or long grass beneath hedges may act
as a source of food for the adult insects and their larvae.
Sadly, these are butterflies that are not inclined to fly long
distances, unlike the red admiral or painted lady, so in order
to be around in your garden or allotment there needs to be a
breeding population not too far away. However, they do make
those short hops from one suitable habitat to the next and
there is every chance that they will crop up in your garden at
some point if you have long grass, even if you have no
knowledge of a nearby colony. Even the marbled white (which
should really be called the marbled brown) has been known to
turn up in unexpected places.
You may come across six of the species within
this group and the two most likely to be seen in a garden
environment are the meadow brown and the gatekeeper. However,
speckled wood, ringlet and the afore-mentioned marbled
white are all possible garden visitors. Grayling and small
heath are less likely unless you live close to their favourite
habitats – coastal areas and heath land. Sadly the wall
brown,
named after its habit of basking on warm sunny walls and
rocks, has become much less common over the last thirty years
although can still be seen in some countryside or seaside gardens.
All these butterflies have a similar life
cycle. They emerge in early summer from pupation having spent the
winter as tiny caterpillars deep in the base of thick grasses:
one good reason not to cut all your grass to within an inch of
its life in the autumn! This is a very important management
point – if you have a meadow area or any grass that is left
long through the summer, you no doubt already take in to
account the cutting and raking necessary. Never cutting to
less than 5 cms will ensure that the tiny caterpillars of
these and a few other butterfly species will be relatively
safe over the winter. As spring approaches the caterpillars
slowly come out of their semi-torpid winter state and start to
feed again on their chosen grasses. They then pupate deep in
the grass thatch before the adults emerge in all their
pristine glory over the following few weeks. Through the summer
they will mate and lay their eggs, often without a great deal
of care and attention! Several of the species simply scatter
their eggs in flight over areas where the grassy caterpillar
food plants are abundant. The caterpillars, with their
distinctive forked tails (which help to camouflage them
amongst the grasses), soon hatch and begin to feed but as
autumn approaches they bed down until spring returns.
Amongst the commoner garden browns,
identification is not too difficult once you ‘get your eye
in’. Seeing the butterfly with its wings open (though they
are not always obliging) will certainly aid identification.
The gatekeeper is a good species with which to start as it is
considerably smaller than the others and has more orange – a
splash on all four wings – plus the eyespot on the forewing so
characteristic of this group. When seen briefly in flight the
overall impression of this species is that it is a small brown
and orange butterfly. The gatekeeper (also called hedge brown)
enjoys wild marjoram blossom and also feeds on the nectar from
bramble flowers. The meadow brown is similar, but it is about
the size of a small tortoiseshell butterfly and the upper
forewing is merely flushed with orange.
Marbled white is unmistakeable, being largely
very dark chocolate brown with small white patches, including
beautiful brown and white scalloped edges to the wings. This
butterfly, if it visits your garden, will generally be seen
feeding on knapweed if you have it. Speckled wood
(above) is also
easy to recognise once you have seen it a few times. It has a
row of ‘eye spots’ along the lower wing edge as well as cream
specks throughout the upper wings. This butterfly is also
rather territorial and may fly aggressively at you if you
approach it! A garden with some light shade is more likely to
have speckled woods.
Of the last two likely contenders, the ringlet
gives the impression of being rather dull until it is seen
well. Its rich, chocolate brown colouration is wonderful and
each of the four wings, which are edged with the slenderest
white border, has a double eyespot. The wall is mainly orange
with wide brown veining on the wings together with a range of
spots.
Long grass and some nectar plants are all these
lovely creatures require and once they are examined in depth,
their subtle beauty becomes apparent. No gaudy colours for
this group; just enigmatic elegance!
Useful grasses for the Brown Butterflies
These butterflies lay their eggs on a range of
native wild grasses – some species are very specific as to
which grasses they use, whilst others are less fussy,
sometimes dropping their eggs in flight. The most useful
species are false brome, cocksfoot, couch grass, common
bent, Yorkshire fog and sheep’s fescue. |
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