More Painted Ladies

[cjay]

380 Painted Ladies at Bawdsey Suffolk yesterday
c100 at Winterton Dunes Norfolk today. Also an abundance of Gatekeepers.
Colin.

[phyllosc]

Colin.

There has been a huge influx this spring/summer. Do you think some of those we are seeing now are the offspring of those we saw in the spring?

In Maldon today on a feral buddleia I had over 30 Painted Ladies and several Red Admirals too.

Dave

[Adey Baker]

Dave

The pristine condition and more approachable nature of the current crop compared to the worn and restless earlier generation does indeed point to them being offsprings of the spring ones.

Adey

[cjay]

At long last following many press releases the press have finally started writing about the "Painted Lady Year" It can only help promote an interest in Natural History & try & encourage Dudes to comprehend how far these butterflies travel.

One person I spoke to today thought I was pulling his leg. He thought they were flying to the sea to drink & return back again!

It would be nice for one of the birdwatching magazines to run an article on this phenomona too.

Colin.

[Karl J]

Yes Adey, I was looking at about 20 on a small bush yesterday thinking that.

A webpage worth a quick look http://butterfly-conservation.org/index.html?/bc/butterflies/index.html

[Karl J]

Thats not it, gone to the wrong page. I'll try again

Edit : Can't get the right page to load but if you go to this one http://butterfly-conservation.org .... & then theres a link to Painted Lady on the right.

[IanF]

We have plenty of them around further north and in addition I have never seen as many Commas around as we have at the moment.

[cjay]

Yes Commas will have second brooded by now. They are one of our hibernating butterflies and can be seen on the wing until October. They have a fondnes for fruit, as do all hibernating butterflies in Autumn and it is possible to pick them up of the bushes because they are drunk on the fermenting fruit.

Colin.