Large Skipper on a thistle – sucking nectar, the main source of food for butterflies

What do butterflies eat?

As a caterpillar it is nothing but an eating machine. It lives on leaves and feeds on them with one single aim: to eat, grow big and be ready to pupate. Adult life is devoted to mating and egg-laying. That takes energy, which it gets above all from sugary flower nectar.

Some species are also attracted to honeydew (the excretions of aphids), tree sap and overripe fruit. Some males are drawn to dung, urine and muddy water in search of the salts and minerals they need in order to reproduce.

More photos

Amanda's Blue – males sucking minerals from a dropping (the fresher, the better!)
Map – male sucking up minerals and salts from the damp woodland floor
Before the Red Admiral heads south in autumn, it fuels up by taking in large amounts of sugar – often from fallen fruit. It converts the sugar into fat, which contains twice as much energy per unit as sugar. Once it is fully ‘fuelled’, it can fly for up to 36 hours non-stop.