Selective

Some butterflies and moths are very selective about which plants they lay their eggs on – their larvae can only feed on one kind of foodplant. This means of course that the adults can only thrive where that particular foodplant grows. Other species lay their eggs on a variety of different plants, so these tend to be much less restricted ecologically.

Red Admirals,  Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells lay their eggs on nettles. Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells lay their eggs in large clusters. Red Admirals lay their eggs singly and the larvae live in tents spun out of silk.

Description of a Red Admiral egg hatching

‘The egg hatches after about a week, and the tiny caterpillar spins a tent around itself by fastening a tender young leaf double with silk. Over the next four weeks it lives and feeds in a succession of nettle-leaf tents, each progressively larger and of a highly distinctive shape.

Tents are extremely easy to find, and often several occur up a single stem, looking like plump packets of stuffed vine leaves. Be careful how you open these, for tents are made of the lushest growing leaves and these invariably have the fiercest stings. Inside will be found the equally plump black and yellow caterpillar, with its body curled into the shape of a figure 6.’ ('Butterflies of Britain and Ireland' by Dr Jeremy Thomas & Richard Lewington, publisher: Dorling-Kindersley/The National Trust)

The rare Brown Hairstreak butterfly lays its eggs singly at the bases of the young branches on young blackthorn scrub.

	The intricate sculpting on the surface of this Brown Hairstreak egg is amazing.

Yellow Underwing Moths

The moths in this family have a wide range of foodplants that the females will lay their eggs on – the Large Yellow Underwing is a very common moth whose larval foodplants include a wide range of herbaceous plants and grasses, including docks, cultivated brassicas, marigolds, Foxglove and Annual Meadow Grass.

The Lesser Yellow Underwing also lays on a wide range of herbaceous plants, such as Common Nettle, Broadleaved Dock and Foxglove. In the spring the larvae climb into bushes and small trees including hawthorn, bramble, sallow and Broom.

Hawkmoths 

These are among the most dramatic of the UK moths with equally impressive caterpillars.

The huge Death’s Head Hawkmoth lays its eggs on plants of the potato family including Deadly Nightshade!

	The Privet Hawkmoth lays on not just privet, but ash and lilac and sometimes holly, honeysuckle and several garden shrubs.
	The Broadbordered Bee Hawkmoth is much more fussy - it lays on Wild Honeysuckle and occasionally Snowberry.