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Living World: Lepidopteran Winter

Lepidopteran Winter

09/02/2014

BBC Radio 4 - Living World, Lepidopteran Winter

Chris Sperring goes to Dorset to see how one butterfly in particular survives the winter.

Richard Fox of Butterfly Conservation takes Chris Sperring to see how one of our most iconic butterflies spends the winter.

Each year Britain's butterflies and moths attempt to make it through the cold, dark and often wet winter months. Some species will spend the winter as eggs, others as caterpillars or pupae but some get a head start on the spring flowers by spending the winter as adults. Being at their largest and most conspicuous in a time of hunger for many insectivorous predators, is a risky strategy for butterflies. Richard Fox of butterfly conservation explains how Lepidoptera pass the winter months and takes presenter Chris Sperring to a winter hideaway for a group of adult peacock butterflies, which have some surprising strategies to keep predators at bay.

Produced by Ellie Sans.

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