Butterflies of sunny downlands.

The gently rolling downlands of southern England provide a warm and bountiful home for a multicoloured population of butterflies. On sunny days in summer the grassy hills come alive with bright patches of colour as groups of butterflies flutter around their favourite plants. Clusters of blue butterflies, coppers, green hairstreaks and marbled whites sparkle like jewels in the sunshine. The chalk soil of the downs favours chalk-loving wild flowers such as marjoram,thyme ,vetches, knapweed, scabious and yellow carline thistles. And the butterflies reap a harvest of nectar, particularly in warm hollows and on slopes facing south. A butterfly`s, life in the sun is spent establishing territories and fighting off rivals, having minor tussles with bumble-bees and hoverflies, courting and mating, feeding from flowers and basking in the sun. One active common blue might see off half a dozen other butterflies in a lightning chase over the grasses. Fleabane, with its yellow nectar-rich flowers, attracts common blues, small coppers, small heaths and small skippers, especially where the chalk soil is overlaid with clay and flint. Hawthorn, whitebeam,dogwood and spindle bushes provide vantage points for butterflies, such as green hairstreaks, that seek out territories. Where downland meets woodland, sulphur-coloured brimstones patrol the edge of the trees in search of buckthorn and ivy.

Habitats

Part eleven how rabbits transform the landscape.

Without rabbits, much more of our downland and cliff tops would be a mass of bramble and hawthorn scrub- not the short, flowered-studded turf that is so characteristic. Rabbits suppress the growth of shrubs by nibbling the growing shoots, but they tend not to eat older shrubs, so established thickets remain. These provide the rabbits with shelter from hungry buzzards, but they give cover to hunting foxes. Nibbling rabbits are very damaging to crops, so farmers try to fence off their fields. Cliff tops are not suitable for crops because of exposure to wind and salt spray, so rabbits are usually tolerated along coastal strips. By their close and constant grazing, rabbits crop the grass as short as if it had been mown. Short turf favours the growth of low growing or creeping plants such as vetches and trefoils, which would otherwise be swamped by long grass and shrubs. These plants attract many butterflies, such as the common blue. The butterflies feed on nectar and lay their eggs on the plants, which serve as food for their caterpillars. The short turf is also highly suitable for other insects, especially ants. The insects in turn attract many species of birds- skylarks for example, common in open country.Rabbits will feed mainly at night, but in undisturbed places will graze by day. Turf near a burrow may be cropped very short, but thistles are avoided.