• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Painted Lady migration (1 Viewer)

Andy Adcock

Worst person on Birdforum
Cyprus
'The Great butterly adventure', looking at the longest butterfly migration which sees insects travel from Africa to the UK.

Tonight at 9 on BBC4
 
A very interesting programme and we learned that one of the drivers for the species mass, migration from Morocco, is escape from a parasitic wasp that preys on the larvae.
 
A very interesting programme and we learned that one of the drivers for the species mass, migration from Morocco, is escape from a parasitic wasp that preys on the larvae.

Possibly. It's mentioned but they don't actually present the evidence as such [it's "ground-breaking" and so we probably wouldn't be able to understand it if they did...]. It's probable in this case because [from memory] population dynamics of several British species exhibit strong cycles that seem linked to their parasitoid abundances. Here's a link to a ScienceDaily piece about the longest migration
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180613102004.htm
[Odd(?) that the programme's from 2016 but this is from 2018]

...Should also have added (and I don't think this is in the programme), painted lady has the largest known number of host plants for any butterfly: >300. This partly explains why it's so widespread...
 
Last edited:
Possibly. It's mentioned but they don't actually present the evidence as such [it's "ground-breaking" and so we probably wouldn't be able to understand it if they did...]. It's probable in this case because [from memory] population dynamics of several British species exhibit strong cycles that seem linked to their parasitoid abundances. Here's a link to a ScienceDaily piece about the longest migration
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180613102004.htm
[Odd(?) that the programme's from 2016 but this is from 2018]

...Should also have added (and I don't think this is in the programme), painted lady has the largest known number of host plants for any butterfly: >300. This partly explains why it's so widespread...

Did you watch it until the end?

Unless I misunderstood,the guy who was studying them said he was preparing a paper and that he was confident he'd proved it. He even collected samples of Painted Lady larvae from Morrocco which all had wasp larvae in them?
 
Painted Lady 500 feet up the South slope above the road in the Bwlch, Gwynedd, today doing its best to head South-west against a very stiff breeze.

John
 
Did you watch it until the end?

Unless I misunderstood,the guy who was studying them said he was preparing a paper and that he was confident he'd proved it. He even collected samples of Painted Lady larvae from Morrocco which all had wasp larvae in them?

I had a look at his list of publications back to 2009 on at least one of his websites and there was nothing obvious on a quick look. In the film there was mention of 100 larvae I think, but no clear formal discussion of exactly what was found. These larvae are colonial and 100 might only mean 10 (or even fewer) groups. Even if parasitism rates were 100% that still might not amount to much more than some anecdotal evidence. As an (ex) scientist, I always hope for more in-depth discussion of exactly what evidence there is, how it was analysed and whether I agree with the conclusions drawn. Unfortunately, the program fell far short of my hopes (if not my expectations) in that respect. The other experimental evidence they presented for the rothamstead work was far better.
 
I watched for a while but did not like the research methods
I identify Butterflies with a camera To use a net for me is a no no
The use of super glue and rubbing of scales was to much never shorten the life of any creature
Would humans like to be treated this way just to find they are looking for food and avoiding birth place problems
I really do not care were they come from and what they do its harmless to me
 
Last edited:
I saw a few counts of 40-50 Painted ladies in the south-west UK a couple of weeks ago, but other than that, numbers weren't that much above normal and seemed to quickly disappear. However, I noticed one comment from Northumberland last week of 'hundreds arriving' and I see there was a count of 1500 on one of the Northumberland Islands recently (can't remember if it was Farnes or Lindisfarne). Any other arrivals east coast that I missed?
 
At the end of June we saw lots of Painted Ladies on North Uist in the Western Isles. By lots I mean we saw singles and twos every half-hour on most days. Also, the Bird Blog on Islay reports 'an explosion' of Painted Ladies on July 30th.

Lee
 
Last edited:
3+ absolutely fresh Painted Ladies on my Buddleia in Farnborough today, none in the last couple of weeks (though Commas, Peacocks, Small Tortoiseshells and Red Admirals among others).

I guess a new generation is now on the wing.

John
 
Certainly been some fresh immigration this week with huge numbers in the north-east. Saw a video of them swarming all over the Farnes + photos from other locations. Also saw a photo of many in Somerset.

Here in London I saw just one on a Budddleja in a garden in Richmond Park, my first for a couple of weeks.
 
I've had up to a dozen on my Buddleia bushes this week. A month or so previously there were lots of worn individuals passing through the area.
 

Attachments

  • painted lady jul 29 2019 A Baker.jpg
    painted lady jul 29 2019 A Baker.jpg
    336.4 KB · Views: 7
Warning! This thread is more than 5 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top