My Butterfly observations

Small Copper on Ragwort

I have done the usual stuff regarding butterflys. I post photos regularly to Flickr and thats all well and good but now I feel I want to do a bit more than that.

Its 3 years since I became interested in butterflys and im now slowly progressing to include moths as well. Theres a field near where I live which has been totally uncultivated and is the source of much of my observations during that time.

What prompted this blog was the disappearance of the small copper butterfly which in previous years I observed and photographed in the said field. It prompted me to wonder why they have disappeared and to wonder what if anything I could do about it. I should say that I had picked this particular species as my avatar on my flickr photo site so its vanishing was a particular blow. 

(The following pic shows why its called the "SMALL" copper:)

Small Copper & Red Admiral on Knapweed August 2014

So to start off I have done some reading up and googling to research the life cycle of this butterfly as you do. The official sites like BCNI do a reasonable job but I feel the info is a bit lacking like listing and providng photois plus scources to obtain the food plants for the catterpillars through to the adult butterflies etc One item was their listing which stated hydrengas provde a nectar source for butterflies. I have 3 hydrenga bushes and have NEVER seen a single butterfly feeding on them.

I have visited a tropical butterfly house locally and it got me wondering what the possibilities would be of creating a similar native species house its worth discussion at the very least. Well rant over for now but its just the beginning!