17th September, 1999

A large area of flowering buddleia near the main teaching block attracts lots of feeding butterflies each year and is a good place to search if you want to find out which butterflies are using the grounds. This year, peacocks and red admirals have been particularly numerous. There have also been the usual tortoiseshells, large white, small white and green-veined whites. Nearby, on Lamb's Lawn, an area of short grass, the occasional meadow brown has been present. During the past two weeks, many red admirals, along with bees and wasps, have also been taking advantage of the nectar provided by flowering ivy near the music centre.

As well as noting the presence of some species, there is also the chance to notice the absence or scarcity of others. I have not seen any gatekeepers using the grounds this summer and have seen only one comma. Both of these species have been quite numerous in recent years as they have both extended their ranges during the past decade.

Also, only a few painted ladies, which are migrants from Africa via Europe, have been present. Three years ago, in 1996, there was a large 'invasion' by this species. During that year,I was very surprised when I spotted the first painted lady of the year whilst walking in the Scottish mountains on the 2nd of June. The individual butterfly was resting in sunshine at a spot high in the hills, where there must have been little or no food available for it on the moorland at a time when there were still snow patches and the moorland plants were barely beginning to grow. Painted ladies became increasingly numerous throughout that summer, often outnumbering all of the other species on the buddleia added together.