Wildlife: This is a year of uncommon butterflies thestar.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thestar.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Orange-tip butterfly taken by Paul Ardron.
This is an early spring butterfly to watch out for and will be seen along woodland edges, streamsides, and in gardens from late March until sometime in June.
The adults feed on nectar from flowers and this is a reason for the wildlife gardener to have plenty of early blooms to provide that food source. The caterpillars tend to browse on flowers such as honesty, lady’s smock, and hedge garlic (also called garlic mustard), and various other members of the crucifer family.
The males have stunning orange tips to the fore-wings, and both sexes have very striking patterns of mottled moss-green on the underside of the underwings.