www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hi.

I've seen some of the largest numbers of Holly Blues flying through my garden that I have ever seen. I have a lot of Ivy (Caneriensis var) plus the wild species growing through old Hawthorns so I usually see a few each year. This past month I've seen literally dozens. On Sunday I watched 2 male HB's trying to mate with a single female and then a second female was seen visiting the buds of Cotoneaster which is growing through the Ivy. She appeared to be laying eggs on the Cotoneaster as her abdomen was being curled under the buds. I tried to look for the eggs but was in a bit of a rush so could not confirm this. Is this plant a recognised foodplant for this species or was she just having a bad day?

BW

M

I believe (from postings from other contributors to this site) that in the spring, Holly Blues display a wide taste in plants to lay on, garden cotoneasters being quite commonly used.

Dave

I've had them lay on my Cotoneaster. They use a huge range of plants, eg in Malta it is Blackberry buds.

Jack

Excellent. Now I need to see if I can find the eggs/larvae!!

I watched a female last week lay on the buds of Elder. I somehow don't think they will thrive as the flowers develop too quickly and are probably too large (unlike eg Holly or Ivy).

Jack

It looks like they lay on plants and bushes that develop fleshy buds and/or seed pods or berries.
Hence rather than just the traditional holly that the first brood uses, they appear to lay on a variety of shrubs - holly, cotoneaster, dog-wood, laurel to name some known examples - and I have seen one laying on Hare's Foot clover in the middle of a meadow too!
I'm not aware of what other larval plants are used by the second brood - other than ivy. No doubt there will be examples of other colonies on different food-sources, given how versatile the species seems...
N

For the second brood, there are few alternatives to ivy that have that kind of bud and flower so late in the year. I can't actually think of any.

Dave