Category Archives: Butterflies

Flying Saucer Hunt

Last July we added White-letter hairstreak to the campus species list. It’s impossible to say whether it was a stray individual (revisiting my photograph it was a pretty beaten up specimen!) or part of a breeding colony on campus. It … Continue reading

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White Letter Day

I had the distinct honour of adding a butterfly to the campus species list this week, in the shape of a rather smart White Letter Hairstreak. New moths come along on a near weekly basis – hardly surprising since we’ve recorded barely … Continue reading

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Ulmaceae | 1 Comment

The Joy of Botany

There is nothing better than the great outdoors for a day of vegetation surveying. Vegetation surveying can help track environmental change, and can form an integral part of the biodiversity assessment of a site. In addition, the surveyor can make predictions regarding … Continue reading

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Who needs Nettles?

The Common stinging nettle Urtica dioica, is the most well-known and prosperous example of the Family Urticaceace in Britain. Infamous for its painful sting caused by chemical injection via trichome hairs, this dioecious plant is easily recognised by its opposite, … Continue reading

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A Splash of Shade, for a Speckled Butterfly

As we steadily edge into Autumn, the main butterfly you are likely to see on Whiteknights Campus is the Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria). Its third peak of emergence is approximately now, around the last week of August and the first two weeks of September. The … Continue reading

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Which Vanessa?

This gallery contains 9 photos.

Two butterflies, the Red Admiral (Vanessa atlanta) and the Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui), are both migrants to the UK from their breeding grounds in Europe, and in the case of the Painted Lady, North Africa and Arabia. Both species can … Continue reading

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It definitely is not boring and brown

Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus), Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina) and Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus) may not be our most charismatic butterfly species however, they can be some of our most abundant, so look out for these this summer when you are out and … Continue reading

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Garlic Mustard Anyone?

Garlic Mustard or Jack-By-The-Hedge (Alliaria petiolata), see image 1, is the food plant for a charming butterfly, the Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines), what I feel is a quintessential sign of spring. The butterfly is seen from early April-early June, having … Continue reading

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The Lover of Nettles

Two species, ubiquitous to the UK countryside, are the Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) and the Peacock (Inachis io) and they were once extremely common. The larvae of both species, feed almost exclusively on the Common Nettle (Urtica dioica) see image … Continue reading

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Is it a moth is it a butterfly? Part 3 – The Large Skipper

The Large Skipper (Ochlodes faunus) see image 1, the final skipper that has been recorded on campus, is again orange, but is much larger than both the Small and Essex Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris and T. lineola) with a wingspan up to … Continue reading

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