Raising Large White Butterflies (2025 edition)

On July 26, 2025May 30, 2026 By ArtyMissKIn Conservation, Photography, Raising Butterflies3 Comments

Hello my friends,

Happy weekend!!

I’ve got a new butterfly tale for you this week. I’m a great lover of ‘Cabbage butterflies’ they’re pretty much considered a pest and we as humans seem to actively seek and destroy them, which I find really sad so its become fairly well known that I purposely grow cabbages for the butterflies as I view them as a butterfly underdog.

Anyway, this post began last autumn when the last batch of Large white (Pieris brassicas) caterpillars were happily munching on the last of my cabbages just as the rainy season started. I moved them (cabbage and all) into my butterfly house where they began to pupate over the next few days – these butterflies overwinter in the pupa stage and emerge in spring. So I had 43 of these pupa to guard over the cold moths. (if you want to see a reel of one after its release click HERE *link takes you to my IG*)

Excitingly these butterflies all successfully emerged and were released back at the end of April, Large whites are funny they don’t like to breed indoors but the minute they’re outside they mate left, right and centre, one of the females laid a batch of eggs on my Honesty plants, as my cabbages weren’t very big – unfortunately I didn’t spot the tiny caterpillars until I’d cut the plant down, so feeling guilty I bought them a tray of baby cabbage plants and moved them to safety.

They ate me out of house and home!

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Silver Studded Blue {One frame}

On June 28, 2025May 30, 2026 By ArtyMissKIn Photography4 Comments

Hello my friends!

I did it I finally sat and typed something up for my blog for my self imposed Fri/Sat deadline!!

Recently I’ve been out on a few adventures and exploring nature filled places. I find being out in the wild to be so soothing and being outdoors comes with the added bonus of finding some new things to snap and share with you…

I recently spent a sunny day wandering around a wonderful little National trust place called Cubert Common, which is such a beautiful landscape to visit. I even met some new butterflies, specifically Silver-Studded blues! Including this one, isn’t he lovely?!

Silver-Studded blue (Plebejus argus) is considered to be another of our butterflies that is becoming increasingly rare so it was awesome to see over twenty of them enjoying the sunshine! Literally I’ve taken so many photos of them!!

This small butterfly which has a wingspan of around 3cm is found mainly in heathland where they fly low over the heather – their main caterpillar food plant.

The males are a vibrant blue like this one, while the females are actually browning and nowhere near as showy, both sexes have distinct metallic spots on the lower underwing – these tiny markings are used to help distinguish them from the equally lovely Common Blue.

I cannot get over how pretty they are, they have such big eyes and cute stripy antennae.

I really hope you like this photo and that my nature filled posts spread a little bit of happiness in your direction.

As always thanks for reading and have a wonderful week!

Ps. If you want to see more of Cubert Common why not check out one of my previous posts about it HERE!

Raising a surprise Small Tortoiseshell

On June 15, 2025May 30, 2026 By ArtyMissKIn Conservation, Photography, Raising Butterflies9 Comments

Hey friends! I’ve got a new Butterfly Tale for you this week!!

Again I missed my Friday/Saturday posting day, but hey it’s only Sunday!

I’ve had a chance to raise a new surprise butterfly, a surprise Small Tortoiseshell butterfly to be precise. A few weeks ago I was sitting quietly in the garden enjoying an afternoon in the sun when this little guy crawled up my arm.

Honestly I jumped out of my skin!

Funky looking ain’t he?

Anyway this fellow is a Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) and are a medium/large sized butterfly with a wing span of up to 5.5cm, and are one of our most top 5 butterflies who use the common ol’ nettle as its food plant.

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The Wizard Tree {One frame}

On May 2, 2025 By ArtyMissKIn Photography4 Comments

Hello my Friends!

This weeks One Frame post was snapped while hiking through one of my favourite hiking spots.

I call it The Wizard Tree!

Is it just a tree with amusingly placed leaves or is it a wizard, turned into a tree during a wizards duel?!

Either way its a fabulous tree taken in a small, but beautiful place called St Breward which is a key part of Bodmin Moor and sits happily about 700ft above sea level (one of the highest points in Cornwall).

Its an amazing place to walk and has a rugged beauty, it is an Area of Oustanding Natural Beauty (ANOB) as well as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a great place to spot Pearl-bordered fritillary butterflies.

There are many beautiful trees, but this is one of my favourites!

So yeah, that’s it for this week, remember sometimes its just nice to be a tree watcher. Hopefully next weeks post is either gonna be a new embroidered butterfly or possibly some more plant folklore!

Thank you so much for reading this post, and I wish you a prosperous week ahead!

ps. if you like my nature photography and fancy seeing more of it I’ve joined insta @artymissk maybe see you there!

Raising Emperor moths

On April 19, 2025May 30, 2026 By ArtyMissKIn Conservation, Photography, Raising Butterflies7 Comments

Hey friends! Welcome to my first Butterfly tale of 2025!!

Although to be honest its actually about moths, Emperor moths to be precise.

Lets rewind a few months…late last year I was able to watch a few Emperor moth caterpillars form their chrysalises in my garden, unfortunately the plant they were attached to became damaged in one of those really nasty storms we had and I didn’t want the little guys to end up drowning on the floor of my wildspace so I rescued them!

They’ve been living in a little netted pod in my butterfly house all winter and emerged at the beginning of April! It was so damn exciting I genuinely thought that they’d probably died in the storm, but I ended up with a gorgeous male and two gigantic females. I grow two of their favourite caterpillar food plants so it was super easy to give them both a pot of heather and meadowsweet.

The three of them all emerged within about half an hour of each other and by the evening the male was mating with one of the females and the next morning she was laying eggs!

Continue reading →

View of the Woodland River {One frame}

On April 4, 2025 By ArtyMissKIn Photography2 Comments

Hello my Friends!

Can you believe it, we’re already at the first Friday in April!? This week I thought I’d post a One Frame and it feels like an age since I posted a proper landscape shot.

This is the view as I cross over a rickety old wooden bridge into one of my favourite hiking spots called Pendrift Bottom, its basically a series of steep ups and downs with some wide-open fields, a little marsh and so many types of animals and insects. Last year I even heard my first cuckoo when I was there in the summer, and theres always slow worms and fleeting glimpses of deer in the distance.

Also the name is pretty humorous.

It actually took this photograph last May and literally can’t wait to spend more sunny days wandering there this year.

Standing on this bridge I pretty much feel like I’m crossing the river into a magic nature filed world, like Middle Earth but with no orcs, I like to believe that if you follow this river long enough you might find Rivendell.

I hope you like this little slice of natury goodness as much as I do because it fills me a great amount of positivity and happiness. Is there anything you feel particularly blessed to be part of?

Thank you so much for reading this post, and have a lovely, peace filled week!

Brimstone {One frame}

On March 1, 2025May 30, 2026 By ArtyMissKIn Photography4 Comments

Hey friends!

I’ve got a little one frame to share with you this week, over winter I’ve had a whole bunch of butterflies overwintering in my butterfly house (my fun and fancy shed!) which has been awesome, spookily they timed their wake up alarms to coincide with good weather and I’ve been able to release them all back into the big wide world post-hibernation (yay!!).

Including this little fella, he’s a male Brimstone butterfly who moved into my shed in December – I’ve literally no idea how he got in, but thats not the point…isn’t he pretty!

Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni) have angular wings so that when they sit amongst the foliage they resemble leaves and hide from predators.

Folklore suggests we may have actually got the word ‘butterfly’ from these guys as the males wings are fluorescent butter yellow!

While we get loads of Brimstone’s in the garden I’ve never had the chance to raise them, so finding one in my butterfly house was amazing. I like to think that bug-kind knows my shed is a safe space for them (although hopefully not too many spiders have moved in over winter!)

For next week I think I’m gonna try and create a needlework Brimstone.

As always thanks for reading and have a wonderful week!

Mini Mushroom Landscape {One frame}

On January 24, 2025 By ArtyMissKIn Photography2 Comments

Hello my Friends!

I’ve got a new One Frame to share with you this week, my first one of 2025!!

Something I really love doing when I’m out hiking is to not only look up and enjoy the beauty of the trees and the sky (and of course butterflies in the summer) but I also like floor-watching when I’m in places like a woodland.

This rather lovely little mushroom is one I found during a trip to Cabilla and Reprice woods in Bodmin, which is touted as one of the finest ancient woodland in Cornwall. Its known for having many ancient (aka over 400 years old) oak trees and is home to many, many types of animals including but not limited to, six types of bat, deer, a variety of birds and even otters. As well as butterflies and dragonflies in the summer.

It also has mushrooms!

I love getting down to the level of fungi, it’s like a miniaturised world. I like to imagine that where mushrooms pop up fairies have previously landed.

Cabilla is a pretty magical place to wander although every time I go there I end up with at least three ticks on me – even though I’m drenched in anti-bug spray.

Also did you know a really handy way to remove ticks from your clothing is with a lint roller (for pets you need a special remover tool).

So yeah, that’s it for this week, do you ever floor-watch when hiking? Hopefully next weeks post is gonna be something artsy.

Thank you so much for reading this post, and I wish you a prosperous week ahead!

Grayling {One frame}

On November 15, 2024 By ArtyMissKIn Photography2 Comments

Hey friends!

A while back I got the chance to see a new butterfly and spent the best part of a day wandering around a place called Wheal Fortune – which is an old mining site and great hiking spot, with some awesome views! I even got to see a new type of butterfly!!

So the main focus of this One Frame is the elusive Grayling (Hipparchia semele) – it camouflages so unbelievably well with rocks and gravel that they almost disappear!

This little guy (or girl) was sunbathing in the gravel enjoying the last of the autumn sunshine, they always rest with their wings together and do this weird thing where they lean to whichever side will get more sun. Basically turning themselves into the Wally (or Waldo) of the butterfly world.

It was fascinating, I felt that if I blinked I’d lose it! I took about 50 photos of which about three actually included the fluttery fella!!

Sadly Graylings are listed in the UK as a priority species for conservation so it was awesome to not only see a few in the native habitat but snap an okay photo as well.

I really hope you like this nature filled post and that it spreads a little bit of happiness. Do you have a favourite bug? They are magical creatures and I love watching them.

Ps. If you wanna see the landscape of Wheal Fortune I posted a One Frame HERE!