The Suffolk Argus
Roosting Orange-tip often, butterflies will settle at the top of the right sort of plant, usually choosing one that is receiving the late afternoon sun. They rest head down until the sun is gone, and then crawl down the stem much lower, and settle for the night. As you said, in a comatose state until the following morning, when the sun's rays arrive. They then crawl back up the stem to bask head up, until they reach a suitable temperature for flight. Often, at that stage they will be covered in tiny droplets of dew, which take some time to disperse.
An Orange-tip roosting on Lady’s Smock bathed in early evening sunlight must be one of those memorable moments of the woodland in spring. Mark Nowers, Warden of RSPB Wolves Wood and Stour Estuary Reserves, noted such an occasion ……. For the second spring running in Wolves Wood I have come across an adult Orangetip in the evening at rest atop a Lady's Smock. To all intents and purposes, set up to spend the night there and very easy to overlook with its green-marbled underwing. When I noticed this last year I put it down as a one off, but now I think differently. In both instances, the insects were comatose.
I well remember a pre-breakfast walk in a glorious Hungarian meadow in the summer of 1995. It was calm and clear, with butterflies at the top of every other tall grass stem. I used a whole roll of 26 exposures on a dozen different species. More recently, I have found good numbers of Silver-studded Blues settled to roost on heather and bramble at Minsmere. In fact, that is a good time to do a count - as they stay still for you!
Mark asked Rob Parker for his comments……… Butterflies have to spend the night somewhere, but spotting where they finally roost is often rather difficult, and many naturalists lack the patience to keep a long watch. Some species go to communal roosts, and are more readily noticed, but most roost individually and benefit from their camouflage. There is often an association with particular plants, in your case, the Lady's Smock, as one of the right larval host plants, probably has the right aura/aroma, and is in a popular microhabitat. As the females will be visiting it in the morning to lay eggs, it is not a bad place for a male to wake up!
Ed. Observations such as this make natural history the fascination, the thrill and the wonder that it is. A number of observers have written about their sightings in past and present editions of the Argus, and I hope that as you read this article you too will be inspired to notice, to record and share your observations in these pages.
Did it roost head up, or head down? Quite
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