Great British Lepidoptera

Continental (European) Swallowtail (Papilio Machaon)

If our climate does indeed become warmer , the continental subspecies; Papilio Machoan. gorganus could well establish itself in the South of England. It is a far commoner immigrant to our shores than is generally thought, although records are bedevelled by introductions and fraud.

There is no doubt however, that this subspecies was once well established on a few downs in Dorset and Kent during the early nineteenth century, only to disappear during the cold summer of 1816.

Caterpillars have regularly been found eating Wild Carrot on southern chalk during the last century, and even more often in gardens, again feeding on carrot-tops as well as Parsnip and Rue.

The entomologist J.M. Chalmers Hunt calculates that there has been, on average, at least one sighting of a Continental Swallowtail in Kent every three years since 1850.

The butterfly established itself again in the south during prolonged warm periods, for example near Deal in 1857-69, near Hythe in 1918-26, and during the mid 1940's i Dorset, Kent, South Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.