Wednesday, August 19, 2009

The Duke of Burgundy x2

As I drove in this morning I was listening to a piece on the Duke of Burgundy butterfly.

The Duke of Burgundy is one of Britain's rarest butterflies so conservationists were pleased to see that a 2nd brood has been spotted in Gloucestershire.

The Duke of Burgundy regularly has second broods in Southern Europe but the one in Gloucestershire is the furthest North this has been spotted.

According to the National Trust the Duke of Burgundy spring flight has been getting progressively earlier and it seems warmer weather has spurred caterpillars to develop into pupae and produce a second brood within weeks rather than emerging the following spring.

1 comment:

ShySongbird said...

A beautiful butterfly Pete, I just looked it up and realise I saw it somewhere the other day (not in the flesh alas) on a blog or in a book, I can't remember exactly where. I see its main food plants are Cowslips and Primroses both of which I have in my garden so maybe one day....:)

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