Butterfly of month - Orange Tip

Although some Orange Tips have been seen during April, May is the month when there are often lots of them flying throughout the Blackwater Valley, often following the lines of hedgerows.

Like a large number of insects and animals, nature seems to make the male of the species more colourful and this is particularly true of the Orange Tip. It is the male that has the beautiful splashes of orange on the upperside tips of its forewings. The female upperside is just white, apart from a black edging on the tips of the forewings. Underside hindwings of both sexes are a mottled green in colour. As females have no orange, they may be mistaken for Small Whites or Green-veined Whites. In some years, a few of the Orange Tips butterflies may be miniature - about half their normal size.

The orange, lenticular-shaped eggs that are laid at the base of flower stalks on Cuckoo Flower or Garlic Mustard are unmistakable. As they are not much bigger than pin-heads, however, you may need a focus scope to really get a good view of them.

Before emergence, the colour of the eggs tends to pale and when the tiny caterpillars appear they may eat their eggshells, before turning their attention to the plants’ seed pods. As they grow, they may also eat the flowers and leaves and, as they are cannibalistic, even other caterpillars.

After about 25 days, they pupate and, with their green hue and strange shape, the chrysalides closely resemble the seed pods of their food plants. Orange Tips remain in their pupal cases until the following spring, when they emerge over a period of several weeks.

It always seems a shame that such beautiful butterflies spend most of the year as egg, caterpillar and chrysalid, but each only flies for about 18 days.

Peter Martin

Peter Martin is the author of Blackwater Valley Butterflies a full-colour guide about the 32 different butterfly species butterflies found in the Valley.    More details >>>

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