The nymphalidae family.

Part one the peacock butterfly.(inachis io).

Among butterflies, the peacock has one of the longest life expectancies, with adults living for around eleven months (July-June). Named after the bird, due to the similarity of their eyed markings, it is one of our most striking and colourful butterflies, belonging to the same family (vanessids) as the comma, painted lady, small tortoiseshell and the red admiral. Adults feed on a range of nectar rich plants, including scabious, sedum, echinacea and teasel.  During  summer they are most likely to be seen feeding on buddleia, building up their fat reserves in order to survive hibernation. The black, spiny caterpillars feed on stinging and annual nettles. Adults emerge from late July onwards. In a good summer, this generation may go on to breed successfully before the end of the year, with a late emergence of new peacocks in October. These adults hibernate over winter and reappear in March and April, to mate. Females lay eggs on large nettles patches. Caterpillars build up communal webs over the growing tips, which they strip bare, before dispersing to fresh vegetation where they pupate. The peacock butterfly is a nomadic species, with adults travelling throughout the countryside, They`re also commonly found in gardens, parks and woodland. Bucking the trend of many UK butterflies, the peacock has fared well in recent years. Not only has it increased its range northwards into northern England and central Scotland, but populations have also increased in number. Its not yet known how the species has fared after this years wet weather.

Habitats.

Part eight the nettle feeders.

Nettle patches-found in fields, farmyards, orchards and gardes throughout the British isles are breeding grounds for aristocrat butterflies. Small tortoiseshells, red admirals, peacocks and commas breed regularly on nettles, and painted ladies breed on them occasionally. Butterflies bask on the plants and lay their eggs on the nettles tender young leaves. The stinging hairs have no effect on their hard, light bodies. However they do not feed from the drab flowers, which are a pour source of nectar. When the young caterpillars of small tortoiseshells and peacocks hatch, they live together in a mass of spun silk, eating the nettle tops. Res admiral caterpillars are solitary and live in a secluded leaf tent. The advantage of feeding on nettles is that most grazing animals leave the nettles alone because they are tough and will sting them. In fact, more than forty species of insects, including aphids, bugs and beetles, are completely or partially dependant on nettles for food or shelter. This is why in any area nettles are so important for so many different insects, but some birds will predate the caterpillars. Stinging nettles do what we call pheno plasticity, i have mentioned this in a previous blog but basically its way the nettle control the light for themselves. A female red admiral lays a single egg on a nettle leaf. She will move onto other leaves to lay more eggs.  As peacock caterpillars develop they look distinctly black with orange feet, they are also covered in spines. Small tortoiseshell caterpillars make jerking movements with their heads whenever the nettles are disturbed by a predatory bird. The sudden movement often startles the bird and drives it away. Most nettle-feeding caterpillars leave the mettle patch to form their chrysalis. They often wander many yards to find a suitable place, such as a fence rail or post, tree bark or garden sheds.

things to look out for in february.

Spring is fast approaching now so lots of animals are becoming more active,plants are starting to push up from their roots to show the first green leaves.Lords and ladies are one of the first plants to appear as we move through February.You can also look for the green leaves of cow parsley and hogweed,Sweet violet and colts foot are to native plants to seduce early hover and drone flies,Look out for both of these along canal towpaths,Road verges and field edges,dogs mercury will start to appear during February as well but be careful with this plant as the whole plant is highly poisonous,it was said to only be fit for dogs and it was supposedly found by the roman god mercury hence the name dogs mercury.Badgers start to breed during February so its quite a good month to watch your local badger sett,The best time to watch badgers is between dusk and dawn.Blue tits and robins will be seen on the feeders a lot now as they start preparing for mating and building their nests.Its important to keep up a good supply of food for your garden birds,they will come to rely on the food on the feeders and fly quite a long way sometimes for the food.Rookeries are also worth watching.There will be lots of flapping to accompany the cacophony.Watch out for the rooks flying in with distinct bulging throats full of food, a sure sign that their chick have hatched high up in the nests,Its also quite common to see jackdaws in the rookeries as well,These birds are smaller than rooks with a lovely grey collar.You should be able to see Blackthorn blossom in all of its splendor during this month,Although because of the cold snap it night start appearing in march.Sloe gin is a must later on in the season of autumn.The first daffodil shoots will be appearing now,Taking over from the glorious snowdrops.The first invertebrates will slowly start to appear as they start to prepare for the busy months ahead,small tortoiseshell's,peacocks and brimstone's butterflies will start to emerge from hibernation,Especially if we get a couple of days of sunshine.Queen bumblebees are now becoming active as well,Bombus terrestris(buff-tailed bumble-bee) is one of the first to be seen as we move towards spring,she makes her colony on a hedgerow bank,The reason they can start flying early is because they can generate metabolic heat by relaxing and contracting their large thoracic flight muscles.They can do this by taking their wings out of gear and disabling the clutch like attachment of the wing.Rather than the flying muscles working in antagonistic pairs, and almost oscillating within the insects body under their own momentum,as they do in flight,they are then filled with nerves to stimulate both pairs at the same time so any motion they might have generated is cancelled out.This warm up occurs internally.A sign that something is going on is a pumping of the abdomen as the blood is circulated and a slight shivering of the bee's chassis.To help keep this heat in,The bumblebee also has thermal insulation in the form of it famously furry coat.Catkins on aspen trees are also starting to appear,when parted from the grey overcoat look out for the beautiful purple stamens.