Orange-tip Butterfly Anthocharis cardamines, orange, tip, butterfly, Anthocharis cardamines, basking, sunshine, river, river Severn, branch, leaf,
Description
The Orange-tip is a distinctive spring butterfly. It is a medium sized butterfly which is often seen in gardens and along hedgerows and roadside verges especially in areas where water occurs. It is fairly Common throughout England Wales and Scotland but is absent from the far north of the British Isles. Male Orange-tips have white wings with vivid orange wing tips with a dark spot where the white and orange areas of the forewing meet. Females are white with black wing tips. Both the male and female have mottled pattern of yellow and black scales on the underside of their wings. This provides excellent camouflage when the butterfly is at rest on foliage with its wings closed. Adult Orange-tip butterflies are on the wing between mid-April and mid-June during which time, the females lay their eggs singly on a variety of foodplants in bright sunshine within damp meadows or road verges, disused railway lines and ditches. On hatching, the larvae immediately eat the egg shell before feeding on the host plant. The larvae eat the seeds, developing seed pods and flower-heads. By the fourth instar the larvae may eat upto 6 Garlic Mustard seed pods in a day pausing every so often to rest. The caterpillars of the Orange-tip are know to be cannibalistic and it is thought that a single Cuckooflower plant can sustain only one larvae. The pupae form in June/July and do not hatch until the following spring although is some areas in favorable conditions, a second brood may be possible where some pupae hatc
The Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines) is a butterfly in the Pieridae family. The males are a common sight in spring flying along hedgerows and damp meadows in search of the more reclusive female which lacks the orange and is often mistaken for one of the other 'White' butterflies. The habitat is damp pastures and meadows, damp woodland edges and glades, riverbanks, ditches, dykes, fens, railway cuttings and country lanes.
eric young; east Anglia; east Anglian; king's forest; kings forest; Suffolk; bury st. edmunds; bury st edmunds; sunset; insect; insects; butterfly; butterflies; orange tip
Red Admiral; butterfly; Vanessa atalanta; Nymphalidae; European butterfly; British butterfly; Butterfly found in UK; butterflies; UK butterfly; English butterfly; butterfly feeding
