UPDATE: They’re still at it, night of 23 Jul, three Holly Blue, two Red Admiral, and a Gatekeeper roosting in the ivy.
A few days ago, I noticed a Holly Blue on a plant stem on the lawn at dusk. Actually, there have been hundreds of this species in the garden this year. But, this one was settled, it was at roost, in its nocturnal torpor state.
Asleep, in other words.
I put a metal basket over the top of it so that nobody would tread on it if they were mothing around the garden (me) or counting frogs (son). Once it got properly dark, I took a short stroll around the garden (the only thing possible with a short garden) and shone a torch up at the overhanging ivy, ostensibly I was looking for moths, but there was another Holly Blue roosting under an ivy leaf. Down below roosting on some apple mint, a Green-veined White.
Inspired, I plodded around the rest of the garden peering under bushes and around the potting shed expectantly and was rewards with a Small Tortoiseshell, a Red Admiral, and a European Peacock, all asleep in different spots in the garden.
It was an odd revelation, I’ve been mothing for six summers now and have seen lots of moths flying around the garden, nectaring on the wildflowers and the (un)cultivated flowers, and of course, a lot drawn to the UV light…but I’d never noticed roosting butterflies before.
Has something changed or is it just my level of observation? Last year was particularly hot and dry, it’s likely that lots of gardens, hedgerows, and bushes and wild plants out in the nearby countryside died. Of course, there’s also the issue of the two new housing estates being built not half a mile from us on old farmland. That could have removed their usual nocturnal roosting spots forcing the ones that survived the upheaval to spend the night in our garden.
I usually do a couple of Big Butterfly Counts for the UK’s conservation agency, along with millions of other people, hashtag #CitizenScience. When it was sunny earlier in the week, I counted 30 Holly Blues during the 15-minute recording period as well as loads of Large and Small Whites. The Comma, Marbled Brown, Gatekeeper, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, and European Peacock, all stayed away until just after the time was up! I’ve not seen a Marbled White in the garden this year, yet, nor Common Blue, they less commonly seen around here, but they the former has been on the outskirts of the village in numbers. There are dozens of Red Admirals around at the moment.
Anyway, I will survey the garden again and see what other strange bedfellows are sleeping among the campion and toadflax.
I asked the question on one of the mothing groups and one respondent suggested that butterflies roosting in one’s garden is perfectly normal. I’m sure it is, just not seen it before in our small garden.