Page 8 - Ickford Informer Newsletter Summer Issue June 2021

by Chris Sandham
NATURE

NOTES

Orange Tip Butterfl y - © Christopher Sandham
More on the Wild Side Holly Blue Butterfl y - © Christopher Sandham

A common butterfly that was also
E HAVE EXPERIENCED A WET, COLD AND WINDY EARLY
SPRING AND THIS HAS RESULTED IN SEVERE CHALLENGES very plentiful is the small Tortoiseshell,
Wfor nesting birds and the late flowering of fruit trees and hedgerows. but their numbers have declined
drastically in the last ten years.
In the gales of last month nests I remember when the Buddleia in my
were blown out of trees and the wet garden was smothered in them.
cold weather through April and May
sadly will have impacted nesting Another parasitic fly first recorded
and brooding success. At last we in the UK in 1998 is thought to be
have dry warm weather and birds largely responsible for this decline.
are starting second broods and It is hoped that there may be a revival
the young have a better chance though fluctuations in numbers of this
of fledging. We will be unable butterfly are not fully understood.
to assess how the weather has
impacted bird species and numbers There was once a large Tortoiseshell
for a while. Let us hope that we get Butterfly in the British Isles but this has
good news when the next national been extinct for many years, though it
bird count is taken. can still be seen in parts of Europe.

Back in early April there were White Herron - © Henry Manisty The existence of a healthy butterfl y
encouraging sightings of the population is a critical measure of
butterflies that are the first to appear Lady’s Smock and Wild Mustard our ecological fi tness and the loss of
each year, including the Yellow abound, these conditions exist widely meadows and hedges is a big factor
Brimstone, Orange Tip and the Holly around Ickford. The Holly Blue is in their decline. Also the concreting
Blue. Butterflies differ in their habitat the first of the five blue butterflies to over of garden areas, development
and larval feeding plants. The appear each season. Holly and other and the use of chemicals is another
Orange Tip likes damp areas where garden plants are favoured by them. factor.
Holly Blue numbers rise and fall each
year depending on the abundance of When planning a new garden, it is
a small parasitic wasps that lays its worthwhile seeking out plants that
eggs in their larvae. encourage nectaring butterfl ies and
moths, like buddleia for instance,
I am sure recently you will also have a shrub which is easily maintained.
seen good numbers of Peacock Try also to allow a patch of nettles
butterflies with their bright colours and to exist: after all you can make nettle
roundels on their wings. As children tea if you fancy to benefi t from their
Peacock Butterfl y - called by us, RAF Butterfl ies we used to call them RAF Butterflies. nutrients. v

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