Spare a thought for butterfly in peculiar April

5:33pm Tuesday 8th April 2008

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APRIL has been a peculiar month so far. The spring sun is now strong enough so that when we get a cloudless day its heat is sufficient for all to feel its warmth and on days where the air is relatively still, weather conditions are extremely pleasant.

These spring days have done much to encourage plants out of dormancy and bring animals out of hibernation. However, when the sun is obscured, cold and northerly winds whip across the landscape and conditions are bleaker than many of our deepest winter days.

Most spring plants factor a few less than clement days into their spring programme with many of the earliest equipped with anti freeze-like chemicals within their body fluids to ward off the worst effects of late frosts.

Others protect delicate structures with their flowers by carefully closing them up when conditions are less than optimal. Emerging insects find these sudden swings in conditions a little harder to cope with.

Last week I was watching a peacock butterfly happily sunning itself on a branch, its wings spread wide open absorbing the warmth of the sun. Come the afternoon, thick cloud covered the sun and there was a real cold bite to the wind. By the following morning, temperatures were frigid and the day was capped off by a blast of hailstones, one of which alone, I'm sure would be sufficient to fatally injure a delicate insect like a peacock butterfly. I knew I was helpless to intervene but couldn't help but spare a thought of concern for this and many of our other newly emerged spring insects.

Through the winter the peacock butterfly will have ridden out the bleak winter days hidden away as an adult in sheltered spot, but having flown around feeding on spring flowers and looking for a potential mate I feel sure it will will have covered a considerable distance. With the changes in climatic conditions would this butterfly be able to find its way back to its winter refuge? I had my doubts.

Added to this, many birds are actively nest building, so its place of shelter would also need to protect it from the prying eyes of many a hungry bird.

Fortunately for the peacock butterfly, it is one of nature's masters of camouflage.

Sitting on a branch sunning itself, it could not be more obvious but once it closes its wings all you can see is the myriad of different shades of browns on the underside of its wings which combined with its irregular outline, means if you hadn't already seen it, then you'd never spot it.

Its camouflage does not end there because even the vibrantly coloured upper wings have dark circle patterns on them. Birds themselves have to worry about falling foul of predators and this appearance of eyes staring back at them may make them think twice about approaching this butterfly. Even if it is discovered the sudden flash of it bright colours and eye-like marking may well be sufficient to startle a predator and allow the butterfly to make good its escape.

All this guile in the form of camouflage is not going to help if its delicate wings get battered by hail, so with great concern I will have to wait for the next sunny day and find a sheltered spot with plenty of nectar-providing plants and see if our magnificent peacocks have been able to use their natural survival skills to find a place to shelter from the changeable weather.