Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly - Aglais Urticae

• 14 May, 2022
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Another butterfly seen along the canal.

Adults emerge from hibernation on the first warm spring days and look for mates.
Females usually lay their eggs on tender, young stinging nettles in batches of 60 to 100. Caterpillars hatch after about 10 days and spin a dense web over the plant’s growing tip. The caterpillars live communally for most of their lives, dispersing to pupate. Adults often hibernate in houses, outbuildings and sheds.
Caterpillars are bristly and black with two discontinuous yellow lines along their sides. Their bright colours warn predators that they are poisonous.
Adults drink nectar from flowers. Caterpillars eat stinging nettles.