Common Brimstone / Citronsommerfugl

Gonepteryx rhamni





The Common Brimstone has a wing span of 54-64 cm. When it is resting both sexes are easily recognizable because of the wing shape. During flight the male is easy to know because of the lemon yellow colour, while the female reminds about a Large White butterfly.


The middle spots varie a little in size and colour, but else are almost no variations. Flying time is July-October and again after overwintering in March-June. It is one of the earliest butterflies of the year. Usually it shows in the first sunny days, when the temperature is above 10 degrees (Celsius). It can live almost one year as an adult butterfly.



 

The brimstone overwinters as adult butterfly among branches and leaves. The fodderplants are alder buckthorn and common buckthorn. Its habitat is forest and thicket with alder buckthorn and common buckthorn  The brimstone is roaming and is often seen in open flowerrich terrain, like in lucerne fields, where the species seek nectare before overwintering.

The brimstone is very "seeking" to flowers, both spring and autumn. In late summer it seeks especially the Asteraceae-family,  like cabbage-thistle and other thistles -  and to red clover and lucerne, or to the buddleias in the gardens.The species is seen on the first sunny days of the year where the temperature reaches 8-10 degrees Celsius. It flies unsteady and low, and in early spring it is often sitting upon sunny spots in the forest floor to get some warmth.



Frequency and spread:
Common Brimstone lives in Europe, North Africa and Asia; across much of its range it is the only species of its genus and is therefore simply known ad "The Brimstone"

The brimstone is very common in Denmark, especially in and around moist thicket-woods. It is rather scarce in West Jutland. The frequency varies from year to year, and the species might roam far and wide and reach even small islands with no permanent living conditions.

Source: Michael Stoltze. Dagsommerfugle i Danmark, 1998.
text and photo: grethe bachmann 

Marsh Fritillary / Hedepletvinge

Euphydryas aurinia

Characteristics:  Wing span  33 - 42 mm.  In freshly hatched condition the species are easy to recognize on the narrow wings and the variegated drawings in black, yellowish and orange brown. The colours vary much and in between the basic colour is uniform orange brown. The male can be very small with a wing span of 30 mm                                                                          

Behavior: The flight is low, changing from whirring to hovering . Both sexes eagerly seek to flowers and are seen on fx Marsh-thistle, Common ragwort or Arnica.

Flight period:  The flight period is short and  rarely stretching over more than three weeks in the individual years. The safest period is 1-2 weeks in June, but the flight time may start late May in warm years stretching into July in cool years.

Habitat: The habitats are difficult to characterize. They are often border areas between moist and dry areas in nutrient-poor soil, like in the edge of heaths or bogs and in low places between the inner dunes and the heaths behind them.

The larvae: The larvae overwinters together with halfgrown larvaes in close webs upon the fodder plant Devil's bit Scabious (Succia pratensis)

Frequency and Spread:  earlier spread in local populations in big parts of Denmark but has collapsed since the late 19th century. Disappeared from Zealand in the 1920s and from most of Jutland in the period 1950-1990. Since 1990 only known from about 20 small localities in North Jutland.


Protection of the species:  the species endures no types of fertilization of their habitats. Disturbances like grazing are necessary - eventually with intervals of several years and never at the same time in the localities. It is necessary to examine how the species react in the rest of the habitats. PROTECTED.


Source: Michael Stoltze "Dagsommerfugle i Danmark", 1997

Photo juni 2010 Nordjylland: stig bachmann nielsen Naturplan Foto