www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

I have an allotment and have a healthy crop of nettles, I would like to breed some small tortoishells on them, or indeed peacock or red admiral. I figured that if a net them off the birds won't get them and I'd be able to watch the grubs grow and turn into chrysalids etc etc.

Problem is I can never find the caterpillars, I search high and low for nests of small torts with no luck. Has anybody got any tips for finding any nettle species?

Danny

I always remember seeing them as a child but they do seem difficult to find lately. Maybe my eyes aren't as good.
Anyway, larvae probably won't be around until April/May. Pete's done a huge amount of work on the main UK Butterflies website, so check it out for times or other info.

Small Tortoiseshell have suffered a severe decline in the last 5 years and larval nests are pretty difficult to find, based on my observations. And Peacock were always difficult to find! However, I do find that both species frequent the same sites year after year and I can quite reliably find larval nests of both species.

Typical sites are sheltered, in full sunshine, with a fresh growth of nettles (not full-grown). This is quite often next to a tree line, or against a farm wall, for example.

I'd also suggest that care is taken when transplanting any livestock, and would recommend you "start small" to begin with. Also - just be aware that the sudden decline in Small Tortoiseshell is still somewhat of a mystery (I've heard nothing conclusive), and is not necessarily down to predation by birds, but possibly a virus of some sort.

Cheers,

- Pete

Rather worrying about the small tortoiseshell. they disappeared from my local 'patch' of nettles a couple of years ago. There were a few adults on the buddlia but no caterpillars on the nettles.

Maybe, maybe not. They disappeared almost completely from Finland a few years ago, but after a couple of years the numbers began to grow again. Now the situation is almost normal. As far as I know there is no known explanation.