www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Today at High and Over I found this Small Skipper that had small objects stuck to its proboscis. It was trying hard to clear the problem but didn't seem able to.

Some kinds of orchids,in particular,seem to have sticky pollen sacs,which come loose and stick to the tongues of butterflies and other insects. This could be the case here. It appears to be uncomfortable,i don't know if it does any harm to the insect,though.

There are certainly lots of pyramidal orchids in the area so that could be the problem.

If you gently push a thin grass stem (to imitate a proboscis) into a flower of spotted orchid it will often emerge with one of these tiny clubs on it, sticking out at right angles. After a time, this will lie down flat against the stem. I believe the idea is that an insect cannot immediately re-enter a flower, so the plant avoids self-pollination. But it is important that the insect can later pollinate a different flower and the pollen sacs are presumably deposited there, freeing the 'postman' butterfly from his parcel.

Guy