The Wildlife of
Gibside

 
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Butterflies - The Orange Tip

First seen on Thursday 27th May 2021 at Gibside

The orange-tip is another very aptly named butterfly, as it has orange tips on its wings. Having said that, the female (shown below) does not, and so she will superficially look similar to all the other white butterflies. However, they both have a beautiful green mottled under-wing, so when feeding with their wings closed they are easy to identify. These butterflies do not hibernate, but emerge from their chrysalis in early spring. The males always emerge about a week before the females, so those are the ones that are always spotted as a typical spring butterfly. This female below was by the river. Although she has no orange tip on her wings, you can still see the green mottled under-wing pattern. There were lots of males, but they didn't land for their photo!