Brimstones Breeding at Butterfly Park

Brimstone caterpillar camouflaged while feeding on Alder Buckthorn
at New Ferry Butterfly Park

Some great and encouraging news...

I have spotted Brimstone caterpillars of various sizes feeding on alder buckthorn, four of them on the alder buckthorn bank, just south of the calcareous meadow. There is another single caterpillar on the isolated alder buckthorn shrub at the end of the ditch at the upper level behind the garden, almost at the Brick Pit Coppice. Just look for leaf damage which can be considerable as the caterpillars will grow up to 3 cm long and at that stage will eat whole leaves. I am sure there are more to spot.

See the photograph above of a brimstone caterpillar at the park in the classic mid-rib position on the leaf. When at rest, the larva has a curious habit of lifting the front half of its body off the leaf. Already, 20 Brimstone Imagoes have been counted this spring, the most ever recorded at the park. The alder buckthorns were planted over a decade ago by 4th Bebington Scouts, St John’s New Ferry, so we have waited a long time for this.

It is great news for New Ferry Butterfly Park, as the adult male butterflies being bright yellow are highly conspicuous, being the longest lived British butterfly they have a long flight period, so there is a relatively good chance for visitors to the park to encounter them flying by at some speed, adding greatly to their experience.

This is the first time that we have been able to confirm that they are breeding at New Ferry Butterfly Park. Barry Shaw, Cheshire County Butterfly Recorder for the Cheshire and Peak branch of Butterfly Conservation said “Whilst I suspect that not too many contributors actually look for the early stages of Cheshire butterflies I have checked data going back to the year 2000 and this would seem to be the first confirmed breeding on the Wirral”.

Some of the smaller instars, may be big enough in a fortnight so that they can be stars of the show on the Insect Day guided walk on Sunday 29th June at 2 p.m.

So this is an interesting find for wardens to share with visitors. This is a first breeding record for the park and a first breeding record for Wirral.

Paul Loughnane