Red Admirals

[Dave R]

Not so much a sighting as lack of.
Just struck me watching hordes of Painted ladies and Peacocks over the last few days that I don't recall seeing a single Red Admiral this year (and only one Comma) in the garden.
Is this pattern repeated elsewhere or is it just me

[Lee Hurrell]

Hi Dave,

As Deano pointed out they did seem late, and I didn't see one until about 6-8 weeks ago. Maybe 1 or 2 a week since then.

Commas seem to be having a great year in Middlesex though!

Cheers

Lee

[Cotswold Cockney]

Commas having a good year locally ~ Richly coloured and of good size too. Well above average sighting totals last month especially.

Saw three Red Admirals in my Gloucester garden today ~ all small and showing signs of wear. I think this is the poorest year for Red Admiral sightings in my garden for years. Hugely outnumbered by the Painted Ladies, Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells this year. The last named having a better year than for quite a while. I even found a well populated group of larvae on local roadside nettles without actually looking for them. Not done that for a long time ~ years in fact.

[Dave McCormick]

Have not seen any commas here, but they have been report in the South of Ireland, don't think they came this far yet. As for red admirals, there are loads here. I first saw a few in early May and more and more since, it was not until June when numbers got higher, probably grew because of immigrants. Found at least 5 on buddliah bushes yesterday in my garden and 50 or more on buddliah bushes in Mountstewart Gardens and a few in fields not far away from my house. I even found a few at an abandoned house beside a pine forest here, which I made a video of. Very few worn ones, here are some recent shots I got of different ones here (photographed over past two weeks):

Mountstewart Gardens:




One at the abandoned house, resting on a willowherb:



Same area, another feeding on ragwort:



One in my garden, on wall:



Link to video I made: http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/phpBB2/v ... f=7&t=3457

So, I am not sure why they are doing so well here. It might be becasue they have been sucessfully able to survive the winter here, but not in any large numbers, only a few have been seen in winter months here. Where I live has kind of a micro climate which is 1-2C warmer than other areas and this might have the answer to why they are able to survive winter here. It used to be very wet in winter in the forests around here, but not so much anymore.

[Zonda]

Ditto here Dave. This season so far, i have seen just two Red Admirals, and one comma in the garden.