Welcome to the Wyre Forest Butterfly Trail. This 3.5 mile trail takes 2-3 hours to complete and has been designed to introduce the amazing diversity of butterflies found in the Wyre. The Butterfly Trail now continues along the Dowles Path to Coopers Mill.
The track that you have walked along from the bridge over Dowles Brook is a good area to spot the bright yellow Brimstone butterfly. The Brimstone hibernates as an adult through
the winter and is often the first butterfly seen each spring. Some people believe that the insect's original name of 'butter-coloured fly' was the origin of the word 'butterfly'.
It is only the male that is bright yellow in colóuration; the female is a more greenish-
white and in flight might be mistaken for a Large White.
The reason why the Brimstone is generally numerous here is because of the presence of several bushes of alder buckthorn between the track and the brook on which the female lays her eggs. If you look carefully during May and June you can often spot the yellow skittle-shaped eggs on the undersides of leaves and sometimes also the caterpillars which are extremely well camouflaged against the green of the leaves. The caterpillar goes through a number of skin changes. as it grows before eventually pupating away from its food-plant to emerge as an adult butterfly in late July.
Brimstones can then be seen visiting flowers like teasels and thistles for several more weeks before going into hibernation to emerge the following spring. It is often regarded as Britain's longest lived butterfly with some adults surviving as long as 11 months. Only a handful of our butterflies hibernate as adults in this way, most species pass the winter as an egg, caterpillar or pupa. Consequently, their adult stage may only last for a few days but, nevertheless, long enough for courtship, pairing and egg-laying to take place to ensure the survival of the species for another year.
Other species to look out for include the Comma, with a distinctive ragged edge to its wings; the Common Blue, on the wing in May and June with a second generation from July to early September (if you see a 'blue' butterfly before May then it is almost certainly a Holly Blue which is similar in size and colour but lacks the orange markings on the underside of the hindwing); and the Gatekeeper, which is generally brown in colour with orange splashes across its forewings.
The Butterfly Trail now continues to Coopers Mill. Two butterflies to look out for on your return journey are the graceful and very beautiful White Admiral, which has only colonised Wyre in recent years and is still something of a rarity here; and the Speckled Wood which is on the wing for most of the summer in a series of overlapping broods and is generally found in shadier spots along the Trail.