17-Aug Butterfly Courtship

If female Peacocks are pursued too ardently they just tend to close their wings and drop to the ground. They are even known to fly around a tree and, while out of sight, settle quickly. They are so well camouflaged when they close their wings they seem to easily escape their suitors. Silver washed fritillaries get so wound up looking for females they will even chase pieces or orange paper. Collectors took advantage of this idiosyncracy in the past by attaching a fish hook to pieces of paper on fishing lines which they then waved to attract them so they could be caught.

Other butterflies prefer to shower their females with an aphrodisiac ‘love dust’. These are scented scales which, in the case of Green-veined whites, smell sufficiently strongly of lemon verbena that we can smell them. This shower of ‘love dust’ also deters other males which would otherwise try to interfere. Another great sight of August are the large congregations of Chalkhill blues which tend to fly incessantly just above the grass looking for females on favoured downs such as Denbies hillside. The much rarer Adonis blue does the same, sometimes not even waiting for a female to emerge from her chrysalis before attempting to mate with her. The result can be various females emerging with badly crumpled wings.

Arguably the most attractive courtship display of all is that of the Grayling. The main reason for this is that the males get so caught up with the females they seem to ignore any human presence and will even tolerate being stroked. The Grayling is the largest of our brown butterflies and is most at home on warm rocks beside the sea. However, it is occasionally recorded at Rainham marshes and East Tilbury. The males will investigate most moving objects, but when they find a female they start bowing and flashing the orange pattern on their wings. At the same time, the male showers his ‘love dust’ which, in this case, smells of sandalwood. With luck you may also see him delicately draw the female’s antennae across the scent glands on his wings. This he does by closing his wings around her. After all this, she is usually highly receptive and mating may then continue for an hour or more. Richmond park, Hutchinson’s bank and even flower-filled gardens are all good places to see a range of the more common species.

Denbies hillside and Landbarn are not only good for Chalkhill blues but you may also see an Adonis blue, Silver-spotted skipper and Marbled whites. If viewed closely, the wing patterns of Marbled whites can be seen to vary. For White admirals, it is better to look in old, mature woodland which still exists in parts of Ashtead common.

It may also be worth looking for areas rich in honeysuckle as this is one of their favourite food plants. For Dark green fritillaries, it is worth visiting Headley Warren or Chapel bank and for Silver-studded blues perhaps Epsom Down gallops. With many of our butterflies suffering such a rapid decline in recent years it may take several seasons to be lucky enough to encounter the rarer butterflies.