GO WILD WITH ERIC PAYLOR

SITTING and watching a small tortoiseshell last week made me realise that this attractive butterfly is no longer common in the Cleveland area.

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When I was a lad the small tortoiseshell was probably the most numerous of the colourful butterflies in our region.

Now their numbers have plummeted, not just here, but all over Britain.

No less than 86 per cent of our small tortoiseshells have disappeared during the past 50 years and by all accounts 2024 was this insect’s worst year ever.

The destruction of wild areas of long grass, in which the butterfly’s caterpillars feed on nettles, is one of the problems.

So too is climate change, while a parasitic fly has arrived in Britain which feeds on small tortoiseshell caterpillars. Small tortoiseshells are bright orange, with yellow spots, and a series of small white yellow and black squares at the top of their wings.