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Spotters’ Guide for Wild Butterflies of the Wye Gorge

Lindsay Heyes from the Wye Valley Butterfly Zoo has researched the history of entomology in the countryside nearby to bring you this list of butterflies that you can spot in the Upper Wye Gorge at this time of year. Add this page for your favourites, it is updated every couple of weeks.

Butterfly Hotspots with Public Access

Flying in April in the Wye Valley

Identification cards and books are on sale at the Wye Valley Butterfly Zoo, or you can download information from Butterfly Conservation.

The first to be seen are last year’s butterflies that survived the winter:

• Small Tortoiseshell
• Comma (second brood)
• Peacock
• Red Admiral
• Brimstone

Early April brings the first of this year’s emergent butterflies on warm days:

• Small White (first brood)
• Orange Tip (out since mid-March in 2012)
• Wall Brown
• Green Hairstreak
• Small Copper
• Holly Blue (first brood, dies out this month)
• Speckled Wood (P. aegeria tircis)

Later this month you can also spot:

• Common Blue (first brood)
• Green-veined White (always early here)
• Grizzled Skipper
• Large White (first brood)
• Pearl-bordered Fritillary
• Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary.

Detailed information about locations of Nature Reserves and conservation in the Wye Valley is available from the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Herefordshire Nature Trust and The Woodland Trust. For a flavour of what it’s like in the countryside from the comfort of your armchair read Lindsay’s Nature Notes, and to find out how we are celebrating the history of entomology in the Upper Wye Gorge check out our Farn Festival.

Research: Lindsay Heyes

© Wye Valley Butterfly Zoo, April 2011,2012