Sat writing this and the sun is shining outside, but the April winds are still chilly. I can’t help but be reminded to “ne'er cast a clout till May be out”! However, even on this chilly spring days the insects are beginning to stir, and the woodland butterflies are now fairly common in sunny glades in the woods we manage.
Early in the year it is the sulphurous Brimstone Yellow which I tend to see first, shortly followed by the Orange Tip and Comma. But by the time you read this I would hope that one of my personal unsung heroes will be flying in your local woodlands.
The Speckled Wood is a beautiful woodland butterfly, as its name suggests. The Speckled Wood can often be seen sunning itself in woodland glades and on rides which is one of the reasons why keeping open structure in woodlands is so important. As with many of the ‘Browns’, its caterpillars feed on grass along the edges of the rides and glades. But the adult butterflies rarely feed on flowers. They prefer to feed on ‘honeydew’, a sugary substance which seeps from the rear ends of aphids. They only feed on flowers if the weather is such that there aren’t enough aphids to keep them full.
Knowing how these species live can really inform our management of a site. For instance, we would not mow both sides of a ride in the same summer so we do not accidentally harm all the Speckled Wood caterpillars. And we would also ensure that open space maintenance and creation is a key part of any management plan written for our clients.
If you would be interested in managing your woodlands for wildlife, them please get in touch and we would be happy to run through what we can do to help.
https://butterfly-conservation.org/butterflies/speckled-wood
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