August 2025 Ramsbury Nature Notes by Peter Marren

Butterbur

It was a delight to see butterflies returning in good numbers after their (for many species) disastrous season last year. I counted eight Peacocks at a time on my small garden buddleia, and twenty or more on patches of thistle and knapweed on the way to Littlecote. These butterflies are the fresh progeny of Peacocks that survived the winter in hibernation and laid their eggs in the spring, in batches on the back of stinging nettle leaves. In this warm, sunny weather, they have emerged earlier than usual, for their normal time is mid to late July. The Comma butterfly too (named after the white comma mark on their underwings) has enjoyed a good season. Those emerging early around midsummer are noticeably bright, like a fritillary. This form, known as hutchinsoni, is named after a Victorian lady, Emma Hutchinson, who reared this butterfly in large numbers and worked out their life cycle, The later forms, which was out by July, are noticeably darker. While Peacocks seem to like purple or lilac-coloured flowers, Commas enjoy bramble blossom. A third butterfly which was around in good numbers in July is the Large (or Cabbage) White. Cover up your cabbages! (though its bright, toxic, caterpillars like Nasturtiums even more).

The flowers of late summer were already out by early July, often in a sea of parched grass. On the downs there are clumps of blue scabious and masses of purple knapweed, both of which are full of nectar and loved by butterflies. Some places were a drift of powdery yellow formed by lady’s bedstraw, which has a vanilla-like scent detectable on warm, humid evenings. By the river, the powder-puffs of meadowsweet dominated parts of the bank, along with the lilac spikes of marsh woundwort, a relative of mint. In places the kidney-shaped leaves of Butterbur, born on rhubarb-like stalks, formed a waist-high forest, like giant green mushrooms. These huge leaves were once used to wrap butter, the idea being that transpiration (water vapour) from the leaves forms a cool, almost refrigerated layer around the butter. If you spot a ragwort, look for a caterpillar with orange and black stripes, like a football jersey. This is the young stage of the Cinnabar moth, a pretty pink, day-flying moth which was on the wing earlier in the year.