Painted Lady - Favourite Photo 2019

[Wurzel]

Painted Lady - Favourite Photo 2019

Week 12

As Christmas is now over – I know this because I have already seen Cadbury’s Crème and Mini Eggs on the shelves at Waitrose (they were putting them out on Christmas Eve!) – the next seasonal greeting is to wish everyone at UKB a prosperous and butterfly rich New Year!

Please could I ask that everyone waits until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos as then it will be easier to keep track of things? Of course our overseas members are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants. As in previous years details of locations, dates, times and circumstances would be welcome as would any accompanying stories and anecdotes or other observations of behaviour and interesting other points.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[downland boy]

Back in July, I was walking along a farm track on Pevensey Levels in East Sussex when I saw this Painted Lady on the track about 20 yards ahead of me. Looking through my binoculars it looked as if it was dead and had been trodden into the soil. As I got closer however, I could see that it was very much alive but missing half of its wing area. I managed to get a couple of photographs before it took flight every bit as powerfully as if it were only a few days old.



http://eastsussexwanderer.blogspot.co.uk

[Chris Jackson]

Back in July .... as if it were only a few days old.
http://eastsussexwanderer.blogspot.co.uk

An interesting find, downland boy, it makes you wonder where it started its travels from !!

This year, for the Painted Lady, I could have posted a photo of an egg, host plant, fecal matter, larval shelter, various cat stages or adults .., so here we go with a 5th instar cat, 30 mm long, on Mallow in the south of France in October:

I still need a pupa for my photo album.
Chris

[downland boy]

Hi Chris, if I remember rightly, there was an influx of Painted Lady arrivals from across the channel during June 2019 and I was not the only person to notice that many of these individuals were already fairly worn. I think that the specimen in my photograph was probably one of those. Nigel.

[bugboy]

Although I didn't experience the full effects of the migration this year, I did see them more often than average and saw plenty of pristine individuals, however, flicking through my images to pick out a favourite this one sprang out at me simply for it's slight comedic value. Pretty sure it was waiting for the nosey man to stop waving his camera around so it could sort itself out and perch in a more comfortable position

[David M]

Not my best, but certainly my favourite, because it was seen on 17 February!!!

[Goldie M]

My Garden this year was full of Painted Ladies, it was a fantastic year for them, I saw my first in July and they continued until October the 20th , Fantastic, Goldie

[Neil Freeman]

Easily the butterfly of the year for me although the large numbers that I saw were apparently not seen everywhere.

I saw my first ones of the year whilst down in the Heddon Valley in late June, just a couple of worn ones on the first day but more than 50 on the second day. I remember sitting in the garden at the Hunters Inn watching a succession of them flying past and they were in every meadow along the river.
They then cropped up in varying numbers at most places I went to and by the end of July and into August I was getting them in my garden for the first time since 2009.

Painted Lady - Coverdale 02.08.2019

Painted Lady - Coverdale 02.08.2019

The largest concentrations that I saw were down on the Lizard in early August when I found hundreds along the coast path just north of Lizard Point.

Painted Lady - Near Lizard Point 05.08.2019

Painted Ladies - Near Lizard Point 05.05.2019

Back home later in August I was seeing them everywhere with every buddleia in the area playing host to some,

Painted Lady - Castle Hills Solihull 26.08.2019

And they were still around in fairly good numbers down in Dorset in early September,

Painted Lady - Durlston 03.09.2019

Cheers,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

Painted Lady

It was quite a year for this species and I managed to encounter one pretty much everywhere I went; from Bentley Wood to Martin Down, Portugal to Wales…In fact I reckon this is my second best year for this species. Unfortunately the Cloudies didn’t join in the party but you can’t have everything. My Fave was the first that I caught on camera and came from Lulworth Cove. I’d spied it as I was ascending the gully in my favoured Hotspot but then it was too far for my lens and also the onshore breeze was sending it forward and backwards like a demented Rocking Horse. Luckily it flew up the edge of the gully and landed on the footpath on the cliff top, the dull dirt setting off the striking colouration to great affect.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Vince Massimo]

I must have taken over a thousand images during the course of the influx of 2019, mostly of larvae. In this species the larvae are fascinatingly diverse in appearance, but one stands out as being particularly unusual and striking.

Painted Lady larva (5th instar) - Lancing, Sussex 13-Sept-2019

Vince

[Padfield]

For a change, I'll include two favourites, because they go together. The first was taken in Málaga in March and the second in Suffolk in June. They are very similar photos and very similar butterflies!


(Málaga, 31st March 2019)


(Suffolk, 3rd June 2019)

Guy

[millerd]

For once, we were spoilt for choice in 2019, though I have to say I saw far more on my trips to the north of England than I did closer to home. These northern examples included an example of the almost white aberration which had been appearing in various spots. Mine was seen up at Arnside Knott in Cumbria on 8th August, amongst a few dozen "normal" ones which made for a splendid sight overall.

Dave

[Allan.W.]

The Painted Ladies had an excellent season locally and I saw them in very high numbers all over Kent ,particularly at Samphire Ho and Dungeness , I like these two underside shots , I watched the individual going to roost ,it flew rapidly round and round the overhanging branch
several times ,before swooping down low and then flying up into the position pictured ,very like a Swift flying up to their eaves nest sites .
Regards Allan.W.