The sun is out, and so are many of our, arguably, most beautiful insects – butterflies. Wherever you find yourself this month – and if the weather is fair, you can be fairly sure that a dainty butterfly won’t be far away! So, whether you’re butterfly hunting on one of our nature reserves, in the garden, or your local park, let’s take a look at the butterflies you might find on the wing within these different habitats.

Grassland

Our chalk grassland nature reserves with their low-nutrient soil play host to a range of wildflowers and grasses. Some of these provide food plants for caterpillars, for example Common Bird’s-foot-trefoil and Horseshoe Vetch, are all larval food plants for the butterflies we see at this time of year. 

Chalk Hill Blue

Come mid-July, take a trip to our Hexton Chalk Pit Nature Reserve and if you are lucky you might even see clouds of Chalk Hill Blue butterflies fluttering above one of their favourite plants, Greater Knapweed. It is only the male Chalk Hill Blue butterfly that is silvery-blue, the female of the species is less showy and brown in colour but has a dusting of blue close to her body.

Woodland

Our woodland nature reserves are well worth visiting in July if you want to go in search of wildlife in the comfort of shade. Be sure to take a look though at the sunny glades, which our reserves team and volunteers manage for the benefit of woodland butterflies. Scan the skies for the Purple Emperor and look lower down for Speckled Wood, plus check out the Bramble blossom as you stroll to watch White Admirals refuelling on its nectar.

White Admiral

Head to Danemead Nature Reserve, near Hoddesdon, for a meander through the Oak Hornbeam Woodland and look about you and into the scrub for the White Admiral, a striking black and white butterfly, with a gingery underside. Whilst Bramble blossom might be its favoured food source, this species likes to lay its eggs on Honeysuckle leaves, which, in turn, their young caterpillars feed upon. 

Speckled Wood

Astonbury Wood Nature Reserve, near Stevenage, is a great place to look out for the Speckled Wood butterfly, especially in the woodland edges and the sunny rides, where our volunteer work parties have been hard at work. Keeping these clearer of scrub and young trees allows this dark brown butterfly with creamy yellow spots to enjoy the dappled sunlight and feed on honeydew. If honeydew isn’t abundant they will seek out flowers, whilst their caterpillars feed on grasses. 

Purple Emperor

The large and varied woodland with its sunny rides at our Balls Wood Nature Reserve, in Hertford Heath is well worth heading out to if you want to try and catch a glimpse of the Purple Emperor. This male of the species is a truly stunning butterfly with a brilliant purple sheen and white bands across its wings and orange-ringed eyespots under the brown forewings. The female is more subdued being brown in colour but also has orange-ringed eyespots under the forewings. Again, this butterfly feeds on honeydew also tree sap but it will come to the ground to source salts from dung! 

Heathland

Heathland is a rare habitat in our area, supporting a unique range of plant life, most notably Heather. 

Small Heath

Hertford Heath Nature Reserve is just one of a few surviving areas of heathland in Hertfordshire. As well as Heather, Heath Bedstraw and Tormentil flourish here, as does the Small Heath. Predominantly orange, as is part of the underwing, this small butterfly has a substantial eye spot on its forewing. It always settles with its wings closed so it’s mainly the under surface of the wings that are seen. Do note it will only be active on sunny days and then it can be seen flying low to the ground.

Parks and Gardens 

Our parks and gardens are a lifeline for wildlife, and these little havens should not be underestimated for their value to our butterfly population. Even a single window-ledge plant pot can make a difference, and provide nectar for these beautiful visitors.

Red Admiral

If you have flowers in your garden, it’s highly likely that the Red Admiral will pay you a visit. This striking butterfly with black, white and red markings is active on many of the warm and sunny days of the year so it stands to reason that July is when you should see them at their height of activity. If you want to see more of these beauties, leave a few nettles in your garden, which will act as host plants for the species’ caterpillars to feed upon.

Peacock

If you can visualise a Peacock’s tail feathers, you’ll have a pretty good idea already of what the Peacock butterfly looks like. Predominantly red in colour, the butterfly has big blue eyespots on both its forewings and hindwings. Underneath it’s much more inconspicuous with a dark brown underside. Again, this butterfly is at its most active when the sun is shining. Although populations of the Peacock do dip in July, they are still likely to be found.

If you’d like to learn more about our butterfly population, check out our Wildlife Explorer pages here and for advice on planting to attract caterpillars and butterflies to your garden click here.