Winged Visitors to Compton Verney

If butterflies and moths are your thing, or you simply appreciate a good photograph, then this web page titled ‘Winged Visitors to Compton Verney’ is for you. We’re very aware of the rich environment that surrounds us, yet whilst we celebrate its artistic merits, we also embrace its wild side and do all we can to nurture and encourage this. To this end, we endeavour to learn as much as we can about the different species that visit or reside both in the garden and surrounding areas.

Awareness is one thing, but increasing our knowledge is another and so this year the grounds team were joined by a volunteer with an eye for butterflies and winged insects in particular. Arthur Owens visited on numerous occasions during the warmer months, and despite a mid season start still managed to record and photograph a good number of species. As little is now to be seen, Arthur assembled his list for us, and a potted version of those that were captured on camera are shown below. The wider list will hopefully expand in coming years and be useful in our management of the outside spaces.

We hope that the listed species have been accurately identified, but if you have any comments or advances on the species shown we’d be happy to hear these through comments, or by contacting the grounds team direct via gary.webb@comptonverney.org.uk

Marbled White (Melanargia galathea) within the West Lawn wild flowers. A.Owens

Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) within the Old Town Meadow wild flowers. A. Owens.

Comma Butterfly (Polygonia c-album) within the Old Town Meadow wild flowers. A. Owens.

Gatekeeper Butterfly (Pyronia tithonus) within the Old Town Meadow at Compton Verney. A.Owens.

Green Veined White Butterfly (Pieris napi) within the Old Town Meadow. A. Owens.

Brimstone Butterfly (Gonepteryx) within the West Lawn at Compton Verney. A. Owens.

Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina) within the Old Town Meadow. A. Owens.

Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui) within Old Town Meadow at Compton Verney.

Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris) within the Old Town Meadow at Compton Verney. A. Owens.

Common Blue butterflies (Polyomattus Icarus) along the lakeside/Old Town Meadow area at Compton Verney. A. Owens.

Speckled Wood Butterfly (Pararge aegeria) Lakeside area of Old Town Meadow. A. Owens.

Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus) Near welcome centre at Compton Verney. A. Owens.

I’m sure you’ll agree that they’re a fabulous set of images, and are a very welcome off-shoot of the butterfly recording.

We’re planning to return to the recording next year to add further sightings, which in turn will help us build a more informed picture of what is visiting or living at Compton Verney. These records will help us work out how best to manage and manipulate our surroundings to further encourage its continued use.

Thanks for stopping by!

Gary Webb, Head of Landscape & Gardens at Compton Verney.