Butterflies

The cabbage white is probably Britain's most easily recognisable butterfly. A common site in urban areas , gardens and parks this butterfly can be distinguished by the black tips of its upper wings and the small black dots. They tend to appear in April to June.


Monarch butterflies migrate from Britain to warmer places such as Mexico and California. They are easily spotted by their bright orange wings with black borders and white spots.




The peacock butterfly has distinctive markings , it can be  recognised by the blueish 'eyes' on the lower wings and the reddish upper wings with black and purple markings.



The holly blue butterfly is a sky blue colour with brown wing tips. The wingspan is 26-34 mm , this butterfly tends to be one of the first out in the summer.

Swifts

Swifts... are easily confused with swallows. However their markings are very different. Swifts have a brownish coloring but appear black against the sky. They are superb fliers and are even able to eat on the wing. Unlike swallows they never perch on telephone wires. They can be seen flying in large screaming groups during the summer. They can be spotted from April to August .

Nests are attached to a vertical surface with saliva. The eggs hatch after 19-23 and the young leave the nest after 6-8 weeks. Both parents help to look after the young. The general diet is insects ranging from aerial spiders, dragonflies , flies , ants to aphids , wasps and bees.

Hummingbirds

Humming birds are small brightly colored birds. Their name comes from the sound that their wing-beat makes when flapped 80 times in one second. They are able to fly: left , right , forwards , backwards and even upside down. They can also hover by flapping their wings in  a figure of 8. Their beak is very long designed for taking nectar from tubular flowers.

They normally eat nectar , pollen and tree sap as well as insects. Their fast breathing rate, fast heartbeat and high body temperature requires these birds to eat frequently. They have a long tongue which they use to lick the nectar at a rate of up to 13 licks per second.

Humming birds are found in the tropics , southern Chile and southeastern Alaska. There are more than 300 different types of hummingbirds. 12 of them spend the summer in North America and spend the winter in the tropics.
(South Eastern Alaska)  (Southern Chile)

These birds are very territorial and will chase each other and even larger birds such as hawks away from their territories. Hummingbirds eggs incubate for 13-22 days and they lay 1 to 3 eggs. The young start to fly from 18-30 days.
(Humming Bird eggs)

In the past they were hunted for their feathers however today they face threats of a different kind. Each type of hummingbird listed under the endangered IUCN red list are all threatened by habitat loss and destruction. Climate change affects the earths temperature , this affects migratory routes causing hummingbirds to end up in places where it is harder for them to find food.