Butterfly day

This morning Butterfly Conservation emailed me to say that this year's Big Butterfly Count has resulted in the lowest numbers ever recorded - which won't come as a surprise to many people, because everyone on my socials seems to have been commenting all summer about how few butterflies they've been seeing. Butterfly Conservation invited me to add my signature to an open letter they've written to the Government, asking them to declare a nature emergency, and more importantly, to implement an immediate ban on the neonicotinoid pesticides that are decimating our insects. I signed, of course, and if you're in the UK and would like to do the same, the open letter can be found here.

Because I was busy this morning with boring but unavoidable admin, it was mid-afternoon by the time I made it out of the house, by which time it was a steamy and vividly sunny afternoon, and - ironically, in the circumstances - the garden was busy with butterflies. As well as the usual crop of late-season Whites, there were a couple of Commas, a Painted Lady, and this pristine Red Admiral, which proved to be the best subject of the day because it was so furiously intent on feeding from the ivy that it took no notice of me whatsoever.

The Red Admiral is primarily a migrant species in the British Isles. It moves northwards out of its home territory in southern Europe and North Africa in successive waves from early spring onwards, and though these waves of migration are strongly affected by weather, in most years the UK sees its first influx of Red Admirals in April and May, with further waves arriving right through to the late summer. These immigrant butterflies breed on arrival, with new adults emerging around eight weeks after oviposition.

The combination of inward migration and local breeding means that Red Admiral numbers peak in the UK in late summer and early autumn, and they can frequently bee seen nectaring on ivy, or feeding on fallen apples and pears in the garden. After laying down adequate fat reserves some of them will migrate southwards again, while others will attempt to overwinter here. It used to be said that Red Admirals could only survive our winter in milder years, in especially sheltered areas of southern England, but increasing numbers of live specimens are now being recorded here in winter, so it seems that this may be one butterfly that's benefiting from climate change.