A walk down the footpath running through the Weymouth Relief Road cutting is a delight at the moment, with a glorious display of butterfly friendly flowers. The brilliant yellow Kidnet Vetch is the sole food plant for the Small Blue butterfly. One of the first butterflies to arrive after the opening of the road, it has thrived and is now found along the whole length of the cutting. Ox Eye Daisies provide nectar for numerous species of butterfly. I believe 31 species have been recorded now on the regularly walked Butterfly Conservation transect of which the footpath forms a part. Bird's Foot Trefoil and Horseshoe Vetch provide food for the other blues occurring here, Common Blue, Brown Argus and the brilliant, unmistakeable Adonis Blue. Unfortunately a stiff breeze kept butterfly numbers low, with only six Common Blues seen plus a solitary Meadow Brown.
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| Weymouth Relief Road Butterfly Transect. Photo. John Elliott. | Click to enlarge. |
The tall blue spikes of Viper's Bugloss are prominent in the foreground. This is one of the food plants that provide food for Painted Ladies as successive waves of them move north in their remarkable journey from south of the Sahara.
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