BUTTERFLIES & MOTHS

BUTTERFLIES

Brimstones, peacocks, red admirals, and small tortoiseshells awake from hibernation with the first warming sun in late winter and early spring and will be looking for mates and stinging nettles on which to lay their eggs.

In the garden, along hedgerows and around the village green we also see small and large whites, green–veined white, comma, common and holly blues, dark green fritillary, purple hairstreak, small and Essex skippers, large skipper, gatekeeper, marbled white, meadow brown, ringlet, orange-tip, painted lady, clouded yellow, small copper, and speckled wood.

A big surprise was a female purple emperor in our neighbour’s garden resting on a garden lounger. These are woodland butterflies spending most of their time up in the treetops and so rarely seen, but they do feed on goat willows of which we have plenty in the parish

BRIMSTONE

PEACOCK

RED ADMIRAL

SMALL TORTOISESHELL

SMALL WHITE

GREEN VEINED WHITE

COMMA

COMMON

HOLLY BLUE

DARK GREEN FRITILLARY

PURPLE HAIRSTREAK

SMALL SKIPPER

COMMON SKIPPER

LARGE SKIPPER

GATEKEEPER

MARBLED WHITE

MEADOW BROWN

RINGLET

ORANGE-TIP

PAINTED LADY

CLOUDED YELLOW

SMALL COPPER

SPECKLED WOOD

PURPLE EMPEROR

MOTHS

We have some brilliant moths in Stroud, and we have recorded 166 species so far in our garden. These range from the large and often colourful hawk-moths, to many really tiny micro-moths. We record them using an ultraviolet moth trap after dark and it is always a thrill to see what has been attracted. I list just a few below. Many moths only appear in the winter, or the spring, some have two generations in a year, and many are migrants from Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Our largest moths are the hawk-moths and we regularly get the massive and very fast flying privet hawk moth, also the eyed, elephant, small elephant, and poplar hawk-moths. Amongst the medium-sized moths are swallow-tailed moth, garden tiger, oak eggar, drinker, vapourer, tussock moths, buff arches, various species of waves and carpets, Jersey moth, brindled and oak beauties, dusky and early thorns that rest with their wings closed like butterflies, buff-tip, lobster, various prominent species, black arches, and peppered moth. Of the smaller moths are Chinese character, frosted green, V-pug, and white and buff ermines, heart and dart and hart and club, Hebrew character, square spot, footman species, barred red, scorched wing, and several members of the tiny pug group. Also, many often difficult to identify micro-moths.