[OT] Butterflies

[Graeme]

Every spring, I have to rescue butterflies from my shed. I can see them fluttering against the window, from house or garden, and released four yesterday.

Question is, what are they doing in there? I can see that caterpillars would be on the greenery outside, but do they really crawl into a shed to become a chrysalis for the winter? Strange thing is, I have never seen a chrysalis in the shed, but they must be there somewhere. Too many butterflies in the shed every year, with the door shut, for them to have flown in by accident.

[Chris Hogg]

AIUI butterflies will hibernate in such places, so they probably found their way in back in the late Autumn.

[Andy Burns]

I found my first one in mid February this year, it was flapping at the bathroom window, when I went to let it out it keeled over apparently dead, but I parked it near a radiator and in a few minutes it revived and flew off ... the wings turned up separately later in the lounge, so something got it.

[Chris Green]

If they're 'vanessids', that's tortoiseshells, peacocks, red admirals etc. then they (try to) pass the winter as butterflies rather than as larvae or pupae. Hence they try and get into a cool, quiet corner to spend the winter - your shed or garage or whatever.

[Graeme]

Oh! Thanks Chris. For no particular reason, I have always assumed they only live as butterflies for one season. What you say makes perfect sense.

[Brian Gaff]

Do you have a light on in it? Also, most sheds that have been around for a while do tend to get greenery growing into them here and there, and these indor bits are loved by insects. Brian

[The Natural Philosopher]

They hibernate, dear.

[damduck-egg]

Found out by chance that a piece of armaflex 15mm id lagging makes quite a good home for a hibernating Butterfly One flew into our works store one autumn and as it was fairly cool we poked it gently into an off cut and put it in a corner. The store was unheated and must have got below freezing sometimes but come the spring when were all having a cuppa it suddenly flew out an then into the warm sunshine.

G.Harman

[tim...]

I was actually taught that

obviously wrongly

tim

[The Natural Philosopher]

With age comes the realisation to at least some of us tim, that most of what we were taught was, if not wrong, a highly simplified and selective picture of the world.

I will always be grateful that a highly advanced education made me aware of this many decades ago.

I was taught science as 'this is what they thought, this is why they thought it, and it sort of works' rather than 'this is true'

[Tim Streater]

But the science is settled. The General Secretary of the Comm^w UN has said so.

[harry]

They have been hibernating in your shed. Now it's warmed up they are flying again.

[Graeme]

In message , [e-mail] writes

I didn't realise that butterflies hibernated, but the answer posted by Chris is certainly logical, although the butterflies up here must be fairly hardy. What I call my shed is an ex stable or possibly tack room, solid granite walls and slate roof, and in winter it is cold inside. Cold with a capital C.

To answer Brian, no, no greenery inside the shed, but plenty of sheltered spots for butterflies to hibernate over winter.

[newshound]

+1.

The system which let smart grammar school kids from modest backgrounds make it to the top.

The other benefit of looking back at "established wisdom" from 50 years or so is to see how much of it has been revised somewhat. Though not so much as the current so-called "wisdom" is going to have to be.

The other trouble is, I can't for the moment think of a single good historical example (but I will later).

:-)

[The Natural Philosopher]

That is Cyans - as practiced by lesser spotted Cyan t*ts.

[damduck-egg]

That's exactly what the works store I mentioned above was, former stable in the grounds of a pub though it was brick rather than granite, only heat came from the kettle.

G.Harman

[Chris Green]

Moths and buuterfly species vary in their over-wintering methods. The commonest means is as a pupa (chrysalis) but there are many that winter as eggs, larvae (caterpillars) or imagines (final insect). Some even pass several years as larvae.

[Graeme]

Yes, having read the various replies, I used Google, which I should have done in the first place. Interesting stuff.

[Dan S. MacAbre]

Pretty much sums up my first a level chemistry lesson.