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During a meeting on Saturday of the Upper Thames Branch of Butterfly Conservation, an interesting discussion was started, but not pursued, about what constitutes a 'woodland butterfly'. Some members argued that there was no such thing, in the sense that no butterfly is found exlusively in dense parts of woods, but they are associated with the edges of woods, sunny rides, or glades.
It got more complicated, because members then asked how do we define 'a wood' anyway?
We can certainly talk about just a few species which have a dependance/strong association with trees in woods [either as larval food source or assembly point] .
- White Admiral [assembly, parading]
Purple Hairstreak [larval food source, assembly, parading]
Purple Emperor [larval food source, assembly, parading]
- Brown hairstreak
White-letter hairstreak
Black hairstreak
In addition, the Wood White is not exclusively a woodland species either; we find it on railway bankings in North Bucks, for example.
Thoughts/comments?