Painted Lady in Northern Britain

[kmchardy]

I saw a single painted lady on knapweed by the estuary of the River Don in Aberdeen (57+N) yesterday. From my 'increasingly interested amateur' status, I do not think I have seen this species locally this early in the season before and searching entries to date for June and July sightings on UKB, I think Cheshire is the most northerly record so far in 2013. My Thomas and Lewington (2010 Ed) suggest this species regularly occurs as far north as the Northern Isles (suggesting sightings in Orkney 2-3x per decade). My own pictures taken in and around Aberdeen in recent years are dated between the last few days of August and - in the big year in the UK of 2009 for this species - early October. In his book 'A Natural History of Aberdeen' (1982), Peter Marren describes a big year for Painted Ladies in Scotland in 1980 consisting of 3 waves including small numbers in early June, late July and then, by far the biggest, on 28th September when exceptionally large numbers (for North-east Scotland, anyway) arrived from the East across the North Sea. Perhaps like the 1980 cohort, my specimen arrived with the aid of the easterly breezes we have been having around the anticyclone centred on the UK for a large part of the last couple of weeks.
I am sure that this is not that unusual a finding this far north in July, but would be interested to hear from others on their knowledge and experience of the northward excursions of this traveller in the current, and previous, seasons.
Ken

[ScottD]

One thing to be aware of is that many Painted Ladies are released by nurseries/schools etc. these days which can skew things i.e. are you recording a genuine immigrant or something that was captive bred?
I know for a fact that several have been seen around Glasgow this summer albeit they either may not have been reported or those records may not have been reported online (e.g. the first sightings page for G&SW Scotland branch of BC is way behind because our webmaster is just too busy doing other stuff to have got around to doing that).

[P.J.Underwood]

I have seen a pristine Painted Lady on the beach in Southern Denmark today.
P.J.U.

[kmchardy]

Note posting in August Sightings by IAC (6th Aug) reporting Painted Ladies on Berwickshire Coast in past week. I have not yet seen or heard of any more in Grampian since 27th July.

[IAC]

Hi Ken,
Yes...many reports now in East Berwickshire and East Lothian. A number of reports also from North East England. Clouded Yellow also among the numbers. I have no news from Fife, Angus, so I am not entirely sure just how widespread the invasion is. At the moment thats all I have. A few Painted Lady making some headway inland, but numbers nowhere near as strong as on the coast.

Iain,.

[kmchardy]

Almost exactly a year since my initial posting, I saw another July Painted Lady - this time at Forvie Sands Nature Reserve about 15 miles north of Aberdeen - earlier today. Just as at the time of last year's July sighting within Aberdeen, we had had several days of easterly breezes and I wondered whether these had encouraged westward travel from mainland Europe. An early respondent last year described seeing a number of PLs on the beach in Denmark shortly after my post. My hope that we'd see good numbers of this species in late August/September was not realised - certainly not personally - as a combination of circumstances including weather meant that I did not have any good days out looking for this butterfly in the early autumn. So, just as last year, while today's sighting is not that unusual, I am sure, I wonder how many others have been spotted in the northern parts of the UK this mid-summer and what the prospects are like for a good showing of a later brood this year.

[ayjay]

One Painted Lady reported on a Hampshire Birding website today - in a garden in Bishopstoke.

http://www.goingbirding.co.uk/hants/birdnews.asp - (look for the *Common Tern* reported @ 9:15).

[kmchardy]

I started this thread in 2013 when I saw a painted lady in Aberdeen in late July - earlier than the usual sightings I had noted in September. I reported a similar single sighting almost exactly one year later 15 miles further north. Yesterday, I was interested to see a single painted lady (no chance to photograph but no doubt about the species) a few hundred metres from the coast near Cullen (57.7 deg N). We have had exceptionally good weather - warm and dry - for 5 of the past 6 or 7 weeks; less spectacular good weather preceded my early sightings in previous years. I would be interested to hear if others have similarly noted early appearance of this species this summer - especially in more northern latitudes. My hopes for a good showing of painted ladies around Aberdeen in both of my previous 'early sighting' years were not realised but maybe 2018 will be different....