Tower and Town, September 2023 (view the full edition)Nature Notes - Our beautiful butterfliesIt is not unusual in the autumn for hibernating butterflies to suddenly come to life. One warm September evening in Marlborough College's Memorial Hall legendary French cellist Paul Tortelier prepared to begin his solo recital. Attracted by the bright lights a Small Tortoiseshell floated down from a high perch and settled on his left hand just as he was about to begin. He looked at the butterfly, then at the audience, smiled and waited. After a short while the butterfly opened its wings and flew off and Tortelier began to play. People remember that as a magical moment, when a beautiful insect delayed for a moment the beginning of a beautiful musical statement. At the end of its metamorphosis from egg to caterpillar and from pupa to adult a butterfly is on the wing for a very short time-two weeks on average. Our butterflies have weathered a tough year: grey skies, rain, blustery winds, yet amazingly there they are on warm, sunny days, emerging from their hiding places and fluttering about ceaselessly in search of food or a mate. As we watch and admire them we may be unaware of some surprising facts about these extraordinary insects: They are cold-blooded creatures and cannot fly at temperatures below 13 deg. C. They have a purely liquid diet and get essential nutrients by drinking from mud puddles. They have taste receptors on their feet to help find their host plant and locate food. They can see a range of ultraviolet colours invisible to the human eye. What charming, descriptive names some of them have: Wall, Brimstone, Orange Tips, Gatekeeper, Comma, Speckled Wood. Some are migrants, including the Painted Lady and the glamorous Red Admiral, clustering on garden buddleias in high summer. In August and September, when fields and byways are full of ragwort, brown sorrel, and stinging nettles our native blue butterflies are on the wing, bringing a bit of glamour and magic to their favoured haunts. The Common Blue feeds at flat-headed flowers, such as hawksbeard and bird's-foot trefoil, while the Holly Blue, whose host-plant in spring is holly, lays its midsummer eggs on the flowers of ivy. The Chalkhill Blue is characteristic of steep, sheltered downland tracks where there is horseshoe vetch, while most glamorous of all is the Adonis Blue, its second emergence in late summer providing a magnificent end to the butterfly season. The male is separated from the common blue by the fine black lines that cross the outer wing fringes, but more obviously by its brilliant sky-blue wings.  Adonis blue male and female butterflies Robin Nelson |