Painted Lady influx!!!

[eccles]

I remember once putting a ladybird on one of my rose bushes that had greenfly nymphs on it. You could almost see it lick its metaphorical lips and shout "Dinner!". It immediately set to with the first one it found with relish.

[Vince Massimo]

Hi all,

Here is a photo of one of the Painted Lady caterpillars I found today. The full story is in the Foodplants and Gardening forum under the title of "Think About Thistles".

Cheers,

Vince

[steveh]

Hi all,
I have at present LOADS of painted lady larvea of all sizes feeding on an Echinops in the small back garden reserve .Truly fascinating how they move up the plant building the"tent" and then re-homing themselves further up when all is munched.
I rightly or wrongly disturbed one to take a photo and was amazed how fast it crawled up to another flower head and started tenting itself so quickly.
Here is a couple of photos.
Regards
Steve

[Gwenhwyfar]

Nice images Steve. I found some more of these critters at Bentley yesterday,
and saw a Newly immerged Painted Lady today, which Gary has already stuck up in the sightings page.

[barryj]

we have seen lots of the same butterflies only that they are very light in colour and are seen about in the evening and fly very fast.
barryj

[Gruditch]

The next generation are starting to emerge, 23 fresh Painted lady's seen at Danebury today.


Gruditch

[eccles]

That must have been a nice sight, Gary.
I saw a single fresh PL at Blackmoor/Ubley Warren yesterday, plus another specimen so worn that it was almost totally camoulflaged by the grey stone it was basking on.

Barry, could your sightings have been moths?

[Denise]

Out of the five cats that I found in the garden, I managed three pupa of which yesterday two went very dark. When the rain stopped this morning, I went to investigate and the two had hatched. I found the two empty cases and this Painted Lady butterfly which was doing wing stretches and then I witnessed it's maiden flight.

The other pupa has now started getting dark, so I wouldn't be surprised if it hatched tomorrow.

Denise

[Dave McCormick]

Lovley photo Denise I saw quite a few fully grown caterpillars of Painted lady today and even got a short video of one being looked at by a few people and my dad. Do they pupae insode the web attached to the leaf? Also saw 4 adults, 3 migrants and one very fresh one.

[Pete Eeles]

Do they pupae insode the web attached to the leaf?

Based on what I've seen this year ... they seem to build a final "pupal" web that is a fair bit more "roomy" than the tents they use as larvae - and then pupate within that. And this tent isn't necessarily on the foodplant.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Denise]

Do they pupae insode the web attached to the leaf?

Based on what I've seen this year ... they seem to build a final "pupal" web that is a fair bit more "roomy" than the tents they use as larvae - and then pupate within that. And this tent isn't necessarily on the foodplant.

Cheers,

- Pete

Exactly! My three moved from the thistles to nearby plants to pupate. They made large webs and then hung upside down within them, with a turn at the bottom (like a letter j ) I'm hoping to catch the final one actually hatching tomorrow. I don't want to interfere too much with the process as when I tried yesterday to photograph a pupa, it went nuts shaking and trembling like mad, and I was worried that it would fall, so I left them alone, and I just hope that I am lucky enough to see the last one hatch.

Denise

[Denise]

I didn't manage to see this one hatch but I did find it shortly afterwards.

Denise

[barryj]

the butterflies I have seen are painted lady's but not so much now they land on the pavement and they do look like a moth.I have seen some very bright in my garden.
barryj

[Gruditch]

We are only seeing fresh ones, here in the South of England, what part of the country do you live in Barry.

Gruditch

[NickB]

Hi - Saw a faded specimen yesterday morning nectaring on a bush; it was still there at lunchtime, so I presume it is an immigrant that was very hungry after a long flight! No signs here of any mass emergence - when they were migrating, very few seemed to land or investigate places to lay, they just seemed intent on flying as far north as they could. So, are we in for a patchy regional picture....?
N

[barryj]

i live in newtown powys
barryj

[Padfield]

Painted ladies are very durable creatures! We have plenty of super-fresh ones here, but also ones like this (photographed today), which I think were probably born in Marrakech:



Guy

[Gruditch]

i live in newtown powys
barryj

Another new one from Wales, first Alan Jenkins, now Barryj. I should of guessed from your IP address that you came from Wales. You see I can see them when I go through the competition voting, just to check that there have been no cheats. Oh that's interesting, I wouldn't of thought Alan lived there.



Anyway 3 fresh Painted Lady's today

Gruditch

[Shirley Roulston]

I've never seen any butterflies on a rose before and this poor rose didn't have any scent but maybe it was warm.

The day had a few showers but it was ok with a few butterflies about.
Shirley. PS I have seen one very bright Painted Lady, can anyone tell me are we waiting for the Ladies to come up from the North or the caterpillars we have seen will those be the ones to eventually, do you say hatch?

[alan jenkins]

My name is Alan Jenkins, Barry Jenkins is my son. We do indeed have the same IP, we also have the same surname, we also have the same blood.

I encourage my children to participate NOT TO CHEAT.

In veiw of this accusation, my son and I will NOT visit this web-site again. Thank you for the welcome.