“Keeping the Orange Flame Alive”

[PhilBJohnson]

“A Butterfly rescue keeps the Orange flame alive”
April 16th 2022, The Times Newspaper, Nature Notebook, by Matthew Oates
Orange-tip butterfly (OT)
With reference to the above article, it was thought that OT females, being the ovipositors, played an essential role, starting new life cycles, for the “Orange Flame”
It was also thought Important for the species, not to mistake a female for a cabbage white butterfly, detested by some vegetable growers, for failing crops.

A survey study showed that, while in direct sunlight, an OT female spent much time in a morning, nectaring on her larval foodplants, only ovipositing occasionally. It might have been, that those Brassicaceae flowers, provided essential fuel and body chemicals (those same chemicals her body was made up of), helpful (or essential) for her continued egg production (or maturation), within her own body. A Green-veined white butterfly was seen in similar behaviour, with her primary larval foodplant, Garlic mustard.
In direct sunlight, it was thought that an OT female, might spend more time ovipositing in an afternoon, when, in direct sunlight, afternoon Spring temperatures were generally warmer, so larval foodplants located in a south facing, or west facing (UK, afternoon sunny location), might more often be used, than larval food plants found in a east facing, or north facing, shady location.