Species attracted to Buddleia

[James M]

Hello, I've been wondering how many different species are attracted to Buddleias? we get the usual visiting ours: Small Tortoiseshells, Red Admirals, Peacocks, Commas, Painted Ladies etc. but I have seen photos and records of other species visiting that I have never seen.

[Padfield]

You can add the whites (particularly large white), skippers (large skipper is very partial to Buddleia), browns (especially meadow browns) and fritillaries (silver-washed, for example) - in fact, pretty well anything that likes nectar and lives in the vicinity!

I've never seen a hairstreak on Buddleia, but I wouldn't be surprised if others had. The one thing you won't see on it is purple emperor! Sweet-smelling, fragrant Buddleia. Yuk!! Give an emperor a nice piece of excrement or perhaps a dead rat.

Guy

[Dave McCormick]

on ours we have had red admirals, small tortoiseshells, large and small whites, medaow browns and the occational holly blue that graces our garden, oh and a painted lady

[James M]

Interesting thanks, don't know all the species that can be found in this area but maybe something unusual may pay a visit one day.

[thepostieles]

dont 4get the brimstone!

[James M]

dont 4get the brimstone!

That's one I've been wanting to see, still no luck yet.

[Piers]

Does anyone on the forum have davidii 'bicolor'...?

Felix.

[Lynn]

In 2006 I had a White Admiral on buddleia - the first & at the moment the last to visit the garden! It is about a 30 minute walk to nearest wood where WAs can be seen. ( 30 minutes fro me - not a butterfly!)

[Cotswold Cockney]

At this time of year if you want to attract Brimstones then they are very fond of the Teasel flowers. In the local woodlands (Glos), a clump of Teasels growing in the clearings are a strong attractant and sometimes a couple of dozen examples can be seen feeding on the flowerheads. Quite an attractive weed to my eyes and can grow to six feet. I believe the leaves are also used by the Marsh Fritillary for their larvae so quite a useful plant for the butterfly enthusiast.

In the spring, if you want to attract female Brimstones, keep a potted plant of Alder Buckthorn in your garden. The females have an uncanny way of finding this shrub for their ova. Perhaps you have seen them on warm sunny days in May systematically checking all the shrubs in their search for the correct plant to lay on.

You can grow the plants from seeds. Collect ripe berries and extract the seeds. Close on forty years ago the best Alder Buckthorn I ever grew was struck from a cutting casually picked up from a shrub in a wood on the Hereford Gloucester border which I used to pass each day when I travelled in my then job. I raised many Brimstones on that potted plant without having to bother much ~ passing females would lay a few ova and eventually there would be many larvae on the leaves ~ too many sometimes so that I had to farm some out to other enthusiasts and put some back into the woods.
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[thepostieles]

oh.can u buy alder buckthorn from garden centres?weve only got a yard just wondered if i had one in pot might attract brimstones from few miles away

[jellyang]

I had a Brimstone in my garden today. This is a first for me. Although they may be common , I don't see many where I live.
She flew past the buddleia & had a feast on the marigolds!

Angie

[Dave McCormick]

Quite a few large yellow underwing moths on buddleia today here, and a magpie moth and some other moth I could not ID, and a green veined white.

[eccles]

A vagrant male SW fritillary visited the local reserve's buddliea today. AFAIK there are no residents of this species as the wood is probably not big enough to support it, but there's been a single male visit every year for the last three years. I wish I knew where they were coming from...
Dave, were the LYU and magpie actually feeding during the day? I've always assumed they were night flying moths, only flying in the daytime when disturbed.

[Dave McCormick]

eccles, I saw a few LYU feeding during day, seen that a few times recently and the magpie, I think I disturbed it. Seems too that in our garden, quite a few qhite butterflies have been sleeping in/on and around the bush too, see them sitting there in evenings.