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The Swallowtail Butterfly

1933 , Norfolk Broads (Norfolk)

Cat no. 440

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The life-cycle of a Swallowtail butterfly.

Shots of the Swallowtail butterfly on a thistle flower. Shots of its habitat, the 'Fens' of the Norfolk Broads. Brief shots of an egg of the swallow tail butterfly. A caterpillar emerges which forms a chrysalis from which the butterfly emerges. Most of the film shows the life cycle in more detail. The swallow tail butterfly lays approximately two hundred eggs. These are filmed on a plant. A minute caterpillar emerges from its egg and immediately begins to eat, starting with its egg. It continues to eat and as it grows it sheds its skin to form another. This it does four times, on each occasion eating the old skin. By the final time it has formed the chrysalis. The film shows the caterpillar forming a chrysalis, spinning silken threads that eventually cover the entire caterpillar. The film also shows the delicate manoeuvre of shedding the skin for the final time and attaching the chrysalis to the twig in the same movement. The chrysalis remains on the twig for winter. The butterfly emerges from the chrysalis, flaps its wings to dry them. The final sequence shows two swallow tail butterflies on thistle flowers

Keywords

Butterfly; Caterpillars

Background Information

The swallowtail butterfly is the largest in Britain and can be up to 5 inches from wing tip to wing tip. It is the only species of the swallowtail family native to Britain.On July 31st, 1997, it was announced that a £37,000 grant had been made from the Heritage Lottery Fund to improve the natural habitat of the Swallowtail butterfly at Hickling marshes in Norfolk. The grant, made to the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, is to fund work to remove scrub from 37 acres of fen and to cut away reeds and sedge from 94 acres. It is hoped that this will encourage the milk parsley plant that is the favourite foodstuff of the caterpillars. The grant also aimed to make access easier for visitors.

  • Maker : G. De Havilland

  • Sponsor : Visual Education Ltd

  • Producer : G. De Havilland

  • Camera : G. De Havilland

  • Music : Eric Spear

Manifestations

The Swallowtail Butterfly

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