Wild Marlow’s annual beautiful butterfly walk took place on Saturday 29th June at Munces Wood. The wood contains a mixed habitat; an open meadow full of wildflowers and a woodland area of mostly broad-leaf trees with a combination of open paths and shady areas. The weather was sunny with little wind, ideal conditions for butterflies.
Our first butterfly sighting was a Meadow Brown, fluttery in its characteristic casual and apparently haphazard way among the grass stems in the meadow. The Meadow Brown is one of the toughest and most resilient of species in the UK. It can fly in temperatures lower than that tolerated by other species and has even been known to be on the wing in light drizzle. The caterpillar feeds on a range of meadow grasses and this diverse diet and durability of the adult insect make it one of the most common and widespread butterflies in the UK.
The Meadow Brown belongs to the ‘Browns Family’ (more scientifically known as the Satyridae). Its fellow family members the Ringlet and Marbled White were also present. The former is a dark velvety butterfly and in flight, is easily confused with the Meadow Brown. On resting, the multiple eyespots on the wings of the Ringlet, from which it gets its name, are very much in evidence. The Marbled White is also a member of the ‘Browns Family’ although not obviously so due to its colouring. About 200 years ago this butterfly was known as the Half Mourner in the UK because its black and white colouring reassembled the clothes worn by people who were in a period of half mourning which followed the period of full mourning after the death of a relative.
Also, in the meadow we saw a Small or Essex skipper, one of the smallest butterflies in the UK. We could not get close enough to this insect to check which of the two skipper species this insect was. These two butterflies are almost identical, the only difference being that the Essex Skipper has dark patches on the underside of the end of its antennae whereas the Small Skipper’s antennae tips are orangy brown.
Moving into the wood we saw a solitary female Brimstone, a large pale cream butterfly which has leaf shaped wings, ideal for camouflage when the butterfly is at rest. The male insect is a much more vivid yellow and is one of the first butterflies on the wing each spring.
One of the few butterflies which prefers the dappled sunlight of woodland glades is the Speckled Wood (also one of the ‘Browns’) and sure enough we found one in a small clearing. The males set up territories in these glades, chasing off any rivals and other insects and pursuing females. A Comma also flitted briefly by an orange- brown butterfly in flight and resembling a dead leaf at rest because of the shape and colouration of its underside. This butterfly gets its name from the small white mark resembling a comma on the underside of its wings.
Just seven species of butterfly were seen this year, possibly a legacy of the cool, wet, cloudy spring and early part of the summer. Perhaps the weather will improve over the rest of the summer, and we can look forward to many butterflies on the wing in time for the Big Butterfly Count which begins on 12th July and runs through to the 4th August this year.
Martin Robinson – June 2024
