Butterflies of Milton Keynes
I have a number of wildlife passions especially when it comes to photography, Birds (most of my blog posts are about birds in some way), Dragonflies (Odonata), Moths, and Butterflies. This page sets out (like my dragonfly page) to detail and capture, in photograph form only of course, the Butterflies of Milton Keynes. My aim is for at least one photo per species.
Butterflies of Milton Keynes
Unlike my dragonflies page there are a lot more Butterflies (including some endangered species, and those that seldom come down low enough to photograph, which will be a real challenge to get pictures of) to be found in Milton Keynes, but I am prepared in that I have details of where and when the best times are for each species. However a number of them I have yet to see, so we will find out how long this process takes to complete.
The Butterflies (a list):
| Common Name | Scientific Name | Common Name | Scientific Name | |
| Small Skipper | Thymelicus sylvestris | Brown Argus | Aricia agestis | |
| Essex Skipper | Thymelicus lineola | Common Blue | Polyommatus icarus | |
| Large Skipper | Ochlodes faunus | Chalk Hill Blue | Lysandra coridon | |
| Dingy Skipper | Erynnis tages | Holly Blue | Celastrina argiolus | |
| Grizzled Skipper | Pyrgus malvae | White Admiral | Limenitis camilla | |
| Wood White | Leptidea sinapis | Red Admiral | Vanessa atalanta | |
| Clouded Yellow | Colias croceus | Painted Lady | Vanessa cardui | |
| Brimstone | Gonepteryx rhamni | Small Tortoiseshell | Aglais urticae | |
| Large White | Pieris brassicae | Camberwell Beauty | Aglais antiopa | |
| Small White | Pieris rapae | Peacock | Inachis io | |
| Green-veined White | Pieris napi | Comma | Polygonium c-album | |
| Orange-tip | Anthocharis cardamines | Silver Wash Fritillary | Argynnis paphia | |
| Green Hairstreak | Callophrys rubi | Speckled Wood | Pararge aegeria | |
| Brown Hairstreak | Thecla betulae | Wall | Lasiommata megera | |
| Purple Hairstreak | Neozephyrus quercus | Marbled White | Melanargia galathea | |
| White-letter Hairstreak | Satyrium w-album | Gatekeeper | Pyronia tithonus | |
| Black Hairstreak | Satyrium pruni | Meadow Brown | Maniola jurtina | |
| Small Copper | Lycaena phlaeus | Small Heath | Coenonympha pamphilus | |
| Small Blue | Cupido minimus | Ringlet | Aphantopus hyperantus | |
| Purple Emperor | Apatura iris |
The Butterfly Photographs:
Below are the photos that I have added to my collection so far, as you can see it is going to be an ongoing project, that may take many years to complete as there are many that are left that are tricky to see; let alone get a decent photograph of. And some images will be improved on over time, but here are my images of the Butterflies of Milton Keynes.
Small Skipper
Essex Skipper
Large Skipper
Dingy Skipper
None
Grizzled Skipper
None
Wood White
None
Clouded Yellow
Brimstone
Large White
Small White
Green-veined White
Orange Tip
Green Hairstreak
None
Brown Hairstreak
None
Purple Hairstreak
None
White Letter Hairstreak
None
Black Hairstreak
None
Small Copper
Small Blue
Brown Argus
Common Blue
Chalk Hill Blue
None
Holly Blue
White Admiral
Red Admiral
Painted Lady
Small Tortoiseshell
Camberwell Beauty
Extinct UK
Peacock
Purple Emperor
Comma
Silver-Washed Fritillary
Speckled Wood
Wall
None
Marbled White
Gatekeeper
Meadow Brown
Small Heath
None
Ringlet
Butterflies of Milton Keynes Flight Times:
Different butterflies take to the wing at different times, species like Peacock can be seen all year round (they hibernate in the winter) while some hairstreak have really short flight periods, this is the record I use to know when to look for what and when (the light green is late/early times of second broods, Red is unlikely and Dark Green represents best flight times). It should be noted many have changed over the years, becoming earlier, due to climate change, so it is hard to accurately capture this information now
Butterflies of Milton Keynes Sites:
Butterflies can be found all over Milton Keynes, sometimes in decent numbers, but these are the where I consider to be the best locations, and the species that can be seen there. (All these locations and the species are already in the public domain I would not dream of putting sensitive information out there otherwise). If anyone has information on species I have no locations for, ones I have missed from the listed sites or a site I should be checking out, I’d really appreciate knowing about them:
You can find more information on Milton Keynes wildlife at MK Natural History website, and more on local butterflies in the Upper Thames branch of the Butterfly Conservation site
As you can see this is similar to my Dragonflies of Milton Keynes page in style and substance, so if you liked Butterflies of Milton Keynes you may like that.