No Lockdown For This One
Orange Tip (anthocharis cardamines)
The sight of this little butterfly is a sure sign that the warmer sunnier days of spring have finally arrived. For much of the time it flutters madly around in search of the reclusive female which resembles a small white.
With a limited food source, notably the cuckooflower and the garlic mustard, it deposits one egg on each plant. In its struggle to survive the caterpillar typically eats any rivals and to counter changing weather patterns from year to year may only emerge as a butterfly two years after it pupates.
No Lockdown For This One
Orange Tip (anthocharis cardamines)
The sight of this little butterfly is a sure sign that the warmer sunnier days of spring have finally arrived. For much of the time it flutters madly around in search of the reclusive female which resembles a small white.
With a limited food source, notably the cuckooflower and the garlic mustard, it deposits one egg on each plant. In its struggle to survive the caterpillar typically eats any rivals and to counter changing weather patterns from year to year may only emerge as a butterfly two years after it pupates.