Wed 13th May 2009 - Cowes CountyPrimary School.

This week’s visit was to Cowes County Primary School, with another excellent turnout of volunteers. We have visited this site several times before, helping their part-time gardener maintain the grounds, but this is our first visit of 2009 so there was plenty of work for us to do. Tasks involved re-establishing a pathway through the cotoneaster at the front; trimming back overgrown hedges from pathways; weeding and clearing path edges; a litter pick and other general tidying.

Carrie's Nature Lesson.

This week’s mystery find was a Common Blue Butterfly (Polyommatus Icarus - see picture), males having pale violet-blue upper wings with grey-beige undersides, and females predominantly brown upper wings and orange crescents. This butterfly is common throughout the UK, and often produces two broods with eggs laid in June, then August and September. The caterpillars hibernate and pupate in April and May, giving rise to adults in May and June (so this specimen was an early one). Caterpillars are short, green and furry, feeding on the underside of young leaves leaving the upper leaf epidermis intact; they also secrete nutrient-containing substances that attract ants, so in turn the ants protect the caterpillar from predators and probably tend the chrysalis too. Adults drink nectar from flat-headed flowers, while the caterpillars eat wild, leguminous plants such as bird’s-foot trefoil, rest harrow and white clover; they can also be found in grassland, grassy dunes, meadows, woodland clearings and heaths.

Many thanks to Carrie for the above.