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Nature Trail: Orange Tip butterflies on the wing now

A male Orange Tip butterfly using its long uncurled tongue like a straw to suck sweet nectar from a Cuckooflower.

Jim Hurley
©

The recent welcome spell of fine weather and sunny days saw butterflies on the wing and the common species flying were the Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Speckled Wodd, Small White, and Orange Tip. The last two are members of the family of white butterflies.

The white butterfly family is represented in Ireland by eight species, six of which are white and the remaining two of which are yellow: the Brimstone and the Clouded Yellow.

The Brimstone is largely confined to the Midlands and males have wings that are the colour of butter. In the past, the emergence of Brimstones heralded the arrival of springtime and early naturalists called the insect ‘the butter-coloured fly’ a description that is believed to be the origin of the word ‘butterfly’.

The Clouded Yellow is a brighter yellow, more an orange-yellow than the pale primrose-yellow of the Brimstone. It is not native to Ireland but migrants from southern Europe and North Africa turn up here erratically. In years when good numbers arrive and when they do so early in the summer, they breed, and their Irish-born progeny emerge in autumn.

The remaining six butterflies are all white. The biggest of them is the appropriately named the Large White. The Large White together with the Small White are well-known garden pests as they both lay their eggs on cabbages.

The Green-veined White has prominent green borders on the veins of its under wings. While it is the most common and most numerous white butterfly found in Ireland, it is impossible to distinguish it from the Small White in flight so, when seen on the wing, the two similar-sized species tend to get lumped together, based on size alone, as ‘small whites’.

The remaining three white butterflies: the Wood White, the Cryptic Wood White, and the Orange Tip are also small in size, so they too tend to get lumped in under the umbrella of ‘small whites’. The Wood White is congfined to The Burren in Co Clare.

The bright orange wing tips of male Orange Tips make identification simple. Females are more difficult to identify as they lack the orange tips.

It is a common species found all over Ireland, is one of our first butterflies to herald the arrival of spring, is on the wing now, and is a joy to see on a sunny day at this time of year.