Small Copper

My records show that it's a couple of years since I last came across a Small Copper, it's about eight years since I last photographed one in the village, and I've never previously seen one in the garden, so it was a big surprise to step out of the back door this afternoon and spot this one nectaring on the heliotrope in one of the patio pots. Up until that moment I'd been expecting to post either a Scarce Chaser or a Banded Demoiselle from a trip R and I had just taken to Stratford, but even though this is a somewhat battered specimen I think it's still worth celebrating a rather nice garden "first".

The Small Copper is a widespread butterfly in the Shire, and its population here is said to be stable, but it rarely occurs in large numbers. In the West Midlands it tends to be bivoltine, the first generation flying from April to June, and the second from July to October. However three generations occur in warmer, more southerly places, and four have been reported in especially good summers. 

It can utilise a range of habitats, but prefers dry grassland, where it lives in small colonies - though individuals will wander quite long distances if necessary to find food. Adults nectar on a wide variety of flowers, but the primary larval foodplants are common sorrel (Rumex acetosa) and sheep's sorrel (Rumex acetosella), and in years when these are threatened by drought the second generation may struggle to complete its life cycle. However this problem is mitigated by the fact that the Small Copper overwinters as a caterpillar, and appears to be able to enter diapause at any point from the third larval instar onwards.

This is the first time in about thirty years that I've planted heliotrope. Back in the day it was described as a short-lived perennial, but it wasn't widely grown, and you had to use the RHS Plant Finder and go to a specialist nursery to buy it. I tracked some down out of a sense of romance, simply because my sister and I grew up loving the children's book The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge, in which the kindly governess is called Miss Heliotrope - but my sentimentality didn't survive the discovery that in this climate and this soil, "short-lived" meant a single summer season. Happily, about a month ago I found that Stratford Garden Centre was stocking heliotrope as a bedding plant, and I couldn't resist trying it again. Mixed with some toning nemesia in one of the patio pots, it has more than justified its place by the number and variety of bees, hoverflies and butterflies it's been attracting.