Clouded Yellow butterfly along the Roman Road

4th September 2022 - Whilst out walking along the Roman Road, Polly and Andy M were lucky enough to spot the very colourful and quite unusual Clouded Yellow butterfly. 

More commonly known from the near continent, this butterfly occurs in the UK in small numbers most years. Whilst they do regularly breed here, they rarely survive our cold damp winters, so in most years the few individuals seen in the UK are those that found their way across the channel in the spring and bred here during the summer. Occasionally however, this species is famous for its infrequent and unpredictable 'mass migrations' across the channel, as happened last in 2000, when good numbers can be seen.

In the Abingtons, there have been around ten reports of the Clouded Yellow over the past twelve years, mostly from along the Roman Road in Aug/Sept 2013, with a few sightings on Granta Park in 2014 and 2020.

Sadly, for once Andy M did not have his camera to hand (typical!), but the distinctive combination of the greenish-yellow lower underwing and orangey upper underwing left no room for doubt. The photo below is taken from the Butterfly Conservation website. https://butterfly-conservation.org/butterflies/clouded-yellow

Clouded Yellow butterfly showing both open and closed wing colouration 

[photo Mark Jay, Butterfly Conservation]