A White Admiral question? (1 Viewer)

Having lived in my local area (man and boy) 60 years! (Epping Forest), and having been relatively sharp-eyed throughout, it came as a total surprise...even jaw dropping when I laid eyes on my ''first'' ever White Admiral four years ago (also my 1st and only ever SWFritillary) holding territory in a recently cleared area of woodland which had encouraged the underlying Honeysuckle to thrive. This territory has been tenanted each year since, a week ago (5th) the WA (torn wings) was replaced by a 2nd intact individual on the 6th!!, and further to which a 3rd individual was found c500m away! subsequent to this latest find there has been ''another'' individual (4th) found nectaring on flowering umbillica, again...perhaps 500m away at a totally different compass point, added to which another possibly a 5th!! has been seen. If I allow for duplication, I'm thinking at least 3 individuals having been seen. Is the species currently expanding in the South East...or just ''locally'' coinciding with optimum habitat and hotter summers? Cheers

White Admiral numbers certainly declined last year in what was a bad year for many species. SWF though has been spreading .

aeshna5 said:

White Admiral numbers certainly declined last year in what was a bad year for many species. SWF though has been spreading .

Click to expand...

This sudden "spike" in WA incidence over the last four years has been a revelation for me, as I consider it one of our most attractive Butterflies, and not one that I would have expected, along with the single occurence of SWF. Conversely I've seen just the one Pemp! a species which as I understand is increasing. Also another species that I've only encountered thrice before...Small Copper....two seen 400m apart on Monday 10th! I suppose as with all things....it's being in the right place at the right time, particularly so with such elusive species.

Cheers