Butterflies

This week we are taking part in the big butterfly count which runs till the end of August. Our Buddleias (also known as the butterfly bush) have started flowering and they usually attract lots of butterflies.

For the butterfly count you need to spend 15 mins observing butterflies in your garden, a nearby park or while you're on a walk. I downloaded the smartphone app to make it easy to submit the results whilst out and about.

I spotted a small Tortoiseshell which landed on the garage. There are often a few of these on the purple buddlia flowers, but I've spotted them this week sunning themselves on the garage bricks and the windowsills!

and a Peacock on the buddlia - it stayed here for ages but couldn't get close enough for a decent photo (can you see it near the middle of the shot?)

I also saw a Red Admiral and Speckled Wood but didn't manage to get photos so here are some images

Red Admiral

Speckled wood

There have been some white butterflies fluttering about but I find it difficult to identify which kind they are when they don't settle anywhere long enough to have a good look at them! I think they are small whites.

We looked up some information about butterflies and found:

• a group of butterflies is called a flutter
• their scientific name is Lepidoptera
• their wings are made of chitin the same as our hair and nails
• the average lifespan of a butterfly is 20-40 days but depending on the species it can vary from 3 days to 9 months
• butterflies taste with their feet
• they cannot fly if their body temp is less than 86 F

Here are our journals

We received a certificate for taking part in the Big Butterfly count

Happy Butterfly hunting