Flutterby Butterfly

Have you spotted any butterflies this week? A wealth of butterflies are a good indicator of a healthy environment and they are also important pollinators. So, using our Butterfly ID chart, why not look in your garden or nearby hedgerows to see what butterflies make your backyard their home.

Chances are, you’ve already seen the orange-tip butterfly, a dainty little white butterfly with orange tips on the wings. The orange tip butterfly is an early flyer (April – July), coinciding with the cuckooflower (Lady’s smock) flowering through May and June. The cuckooflower is the foodplant of the orange-tip; that is, the butterfly lays its egg on the stalk of the flower and when the caterpillar hatches, it feeds on that same flower. But did you know it’s only the male butterflies that have orange tips? The females have grey/black tips and are easily confused with the other common white butterflies in flight.

To take part in your own butterfly hunt and in our Backyard Biodiversity Campaign, download the ID chart and go onto https://butterfly-conservation.org/ for much more information. For more information on biodiversity in the Fermanagh and Omagh District and how you can help, email biodiversity@fermanaghomagh.com.