FEATURES

The brimstone is widely considered to be the original ‘butter’ fly with its yellow appearance.

Small PLEASURES

From the bold and brash to the subtle and intriguing, is it really summer without a butterfly on the wing? Tom Marshall takes a closer look at some of these miniature marvels at home in the Peak District...

Photographs by Tim Melling

The original Along with the first swallow, the call of a cuckoo or a spring bulb tentatively peering above last autumn’s leaves, the brimstone butterfly is perhaps another sure sign of the changing of the seasons. Thought by many to be the original ‘butter’ fly – with its lemon-yellow wings and generous size – the name brimstone is also believed to be an old term for sulphur. Like so many harbingers of spring, the brimstone can turn up quite unexpectedly just about anywhere. Gardens are certainly a favourite, as are habitats with a less tranquil history, such as the former railway verges that now come alive with wildflowers along Peak District routes such as the Monsal Trail. Take a short walk down to the River Chee at Millers Dale on a warm sunny day, and a look in the glades between the riverside trees might just be rewarded with a flash of yellow amongst the ramsons and wood anemones.

A real treat A group of butterflies that delight and frustrate in equal measure must surely be the fritillaries. The combination of exquisite wing patterns and cryptic similarity between species can leave even the keenest wildlife watcher reaching for a guide book. Fortunately for us in the Peak District, our White Peak grasslands are home to one of the largest, the dark green fritillary. That name in fact comes from the green colouration on the underside of the wings, with their upper wings carrying the characteristic head-scratching mosaic of oranges, blacks and browns found in so many fritillaries. Similar in size to garden butterflies such as the peacock and red admiral, the dark green fritillary struts its aerial stuff with a powerful flight before regularly alighting on knapweed and thistles, allowing a closer appreciation of their beauty.

The green hairstreak does a convincing impersonation of spring leaves.

Hair apparent The bigger members of the butterfly family don’t get all the glory, however. Rather more diminutive than a brimstone or dark green fritillary at little more 3cm across, the wonderfully-named hairstreaks also find a home in the National Park. Most likely to be seen is the green hairstreak, although a baffling impersonation of spring birch leaves and bilberry can still make this a butterfly that brings a challenge. At home in the Dark Peak uplands of moorland edges where gritstone rocks are softened by heather and bilberry, the green hairstreak has a head for heights happily living at up to 500m (1,500ft) above sea level. Look out for a fluttering flight than might just be a leaf at the mercy of the wind, until it perches up with wings invariably closed tight. Much rarer is the white-letter hairstreak, a tree canopy resident whose wings appear to have been daintily painted by a white brush and very steady hand. Also found in a few White Peak quarries, the ‘white letter’ is a butterfly still under threat but thought to be returning to parts of the Peak District.

The fritillaries stunning family of confusingly similar butterflies, fortunately the Peak District is home to the largest – the dark green fritillary.

Tip top Maintaining a long tradition of helpfullynamed butterflies, the orange-tip also needs little introduction. A medium-sized spring and early summer species, they can be easily overlooked as one of the many variations of white butterflies such as the garden white, wood white, and green-veined white amongst others. Closer investigation, though, will reveal a wing-tip generously dipped in stunning clementineorange, bordered in black for maximum impact. If that were not invitation enough, their favourite plant of ‘lady’s smock’ or ‘cuckoo flower’ sets the scene perfectly with its subtle pinks. Look out for them in damp grasslands or verges along the former railway trails.

Cheeky northerner It may lack the dazzling attire of some of its peers, but the northern brown argus brings its own point of difference by having a localised ‘form’ found only here in the Peak District. Small in stature at around 3cm in wingspan, its chocolate brown wings are framed by sections of orange and white, with a keen eye needed to spot the small areas of white on the wings that denote the special Peak District resident.

The white-letter hairstreak is returning to a few Peak District quarries

The orange-tip.