Butterfly Jungles Breeding Enclosure
Posted: Fri Oct 19, 2012 9:19 am
Butterfly Jungles Breeding Enclosure
Weird and Wonderful Experiences
It s been a whirlwind Year for us and our Breeding Enclosure has been an incredible success.Not only did we release around 500 UK Species at Hampton Court Flower Show in our award winning Show Garden to highlight the decline of Butterflies Worldwide,we also released a further 300 in our first Butterfly Jungles Sanctuary at Ferry Point in London.The Butterflies in question were a mixture of very large healthy Peacocks,Comma s Red Admirals Small Tortoiseshells.Painted Ladies were also released at Hampton Court.
The breeding of these Species produced some odd activity from some of the Caterpillars and indeed the Adults regarding foodplants and these probably havent been recorded elsewhere.Firstly our Painted Ladies chose Red Clover and Buddleja to lay on aswell as the Meadow Thistle and Nettles that are usually chosen.The caterpillars reared up perfectly and in fact the resulting Butterflies were actually larger than their Nettle and Thistle feeding counterparts.
Next the Commas favoured Hazel to Nettles and these too seemed to produce more robust Adults but definately the strangest were the Peacocks as some wandered off their Nettles and chose to eat Bedding Scarlet Verbenas which surely has to be a first!Again these produced perfect healthy Butterflies and got me thinking that maybe some Species are more adaptable than we think when it comes to foodplants.There could indeed be thousands of cases like these occuring in the Wild or even our back Gardens which simply go unnoticed.I will definately be keeping a closer eye on the Garden plants and Wildflowers being eaten next Year.
Let me know if you have had any similar experiences,Would love to hear them.
Paul Allen
Weird and Wonderful Experiences
It s been a whirlwind Year for us and our Breeding Enclosure has been an incredible success.Not only did we release around 500 UK Species at Hampton Court Flower Show in our award winning Show Garden to highlight the decline of Butterflies Worldwide,we also released a further 300 in our first Butterfly Jungles Sanctuary at Ferry Point in London.The Butterflies in question were a mixture of very large healthy Peacocks,Comma s Red Admirals Small Tortoiseshells.Painted Ladies were also released at Hampton Court.
The breeding of these Species produced some odd activity from some of the Caterpillars and indeed the Adults regarding foodplants and these probably havent been recorded elsewhere.Firstly our Painted Ladies chose Red Clover and Buddleja to lay on aswell as the Meadow Thistle and Nettles that are usually chosen.The caterpillars reared up perfectly and in fact the resulting Butterflies were actually larger than their Nettle and Thistle feeding counterparts.
Next the Commas favoured Hazel to Nettles and these too seemed to produce more robust Adults but definately the strangest were the Peacocks as some wandered off their Nettles and chose to eat Bedding Scarlet Verbenas which surely has to be a first!Again these produced perfect healthy Butterflies and got me thinking that maybe some Species are more adaptable than we think when it comes to foodplants.There could indeed be thousands of cases like these occuring in the Wild or even our back Gardens which simply go unnoticed.I will definately be keeping a closer eye on the Garden plants and Wildflowers being eaten next Year.
Let me know if you have had any similar experiences,Would love to hear them.
Paul Allen