www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Haven't seen any up here yet but can't be long now, how far north have they spread so far?

Hi all,
James asks how far north the Painted Lady are now....I can tell you James that the scout parties have made it to Scotland at least. Here in the south eastern corner of Scotland yesterday I flushed 2 from long grass, no doubt resting before setting of again. One of them stopped of briefly for a good old drink of fresh Bull poo before bolting at high speed into a hedgerow. Those guys are so crazy.
Cheers IAC.

Dear All
I have just returned from the Tarn area of France, just north of Albi and the Painted Lady was everywhere. On 16th May the migration northward really took off and I counted over 6,000 an hour coming from the south and squeezing between a 50ft gap in a line of trees. They were flying at between 1 and 3 ft above the ground and mixed in with them, but in much smaller numbers were Clouded Yellow. On the 500mile drive back to Caen they were everywhere.
Having returned home at the weekend I confirm that at the Whippingham Fields Transect on the Isle of Wight, there are currently hundreds of Painted Lady and they are still migrating northward. The main nectar source at the moment in the fields is clover.
Regards

John Rowell

At 4.15pm Thursday 28th Painted Ladies on the move at Ropley Hampshire. I counted 130 in five minutes in a 20m strip crossing my field. Flying North very strongly very fast. None appeared to settle.
Having watched them both Saturday & Sunday again in great concentrations I must say I find the whole experience totally magical. I do remember 1996 but I did not see them flying in these numbers.

I counted 831 in total today, 110 of them were on my transect walk. In some hot spots, there were an average of 20 a minute passing by, absolutely fantastic.


Gruditch

I have just spotted my first Painted Lady of the year here in Norfolk. They may well have been here for a while but it was my first outing after 2 weeks post op bed rest!

Angie

seen my first two while on post this morning

A drive from Norwich to my place in South Cambridgeshire produced literally hundreds of sightings between approx 1645 hrs and 1815 on 28th May. They were seen as singles, groups of threes and fours, all crossing left to right (ie, approx NW).

The phenomenon would have been difficult to miss by the most disinterested Joe Public.

Jack

I live just North of Norwich so am sorry I missed that influx I probably spotted the one that got lost!
It was very sunny & warm here between 5 & 6 pm .


Angie

Actually spotted one by Caernarfon Castle and quite a few Small White, I had the 500mm lens and it wouldn't have any of it me trying to focus in on one little b'fly.
Shirley

Now the sun is out again, the visible influx across the Cambridge area has continued... I saw large numbers again on my way home late this afternoon. The weather forecast tonight showed wind coming from South or South East for at least the next 5 days, so this will surely aid the migrating butterflies even more. I wonder what the best ever year on record for Painted Ladies was in the UK and whether this season is shaping up to top even that? If they are here this early and can breed well during the warmer months, it is totally brain-frazzling to think just how big the population could get
Does anything predate on them?

Trev

Squillions in Worthing, W. Sussex, today too.

Is a squillion more than a Brazillian?

I can just visualize the literature in 2100s referring to "amazing Painted Lady" immigration in the early years of the twenty-first century.

"We will never experience anything like that again."

We are witnessing history in the making. We can all say “we were there”

Jack

As regards the "giant butterflies" mentioned in the Times - it is all a matter of perception I suppose. Certainly, they must have seemed that way to the Common Blues at Sand Point earlier this week when they encroached on their territory. Perhaps the Times employs extremely small journalists?

Ah reached Scotland already! hopefully they can make it a good deal further inland, it would be great to see them. I remember thinking there were alot in 2006 and that wasn't even an influx year.

jackharr wrote:I can just visualize the literature in 2100s referring to "amazing Painted Lady" immigration in the early years of the twenty-first century.

"We will never experience anything like that again."

We are witnessing history in the making. We can all say “we were there”

Jack

Well said Jack and I couldn't agree more. Even the experts are saying the numbers of significantly greater than the last great invasion of 1996. I was planning on going out to see Wood White tomorrow - but have decided to focus on the Painted Lady migration instead - I've waited years for something like this and am determined to make the most of it!

Cheers,

- Pete

So,

There are an awful lot of PL's all heading North (ish) does anyone know where they are all going and why
or is it lemming syndrome i.e North to oblivion .

Any guesses as to the total numbers

The ones have have observed seem determined and are moving along at a fair old clip so to speak. Interesting to see none the less.

As a witness of a (now I see a modest) collection of Painted Ladies on Tuesday (see p3 of this thread), I'm really interested to know if anyone has caught the migration on video..

So - has anyone caught the 100's or 1000's of the beasts flying over their back yard on "film" yet?

Here's hoping

Chris

xmilehigh wrote:Does anyone know where they are all going and why

One theory is that they're aware of the density of their own population and will keep moving until they thin out.

xmilehigh wrote:Any guesses as to the total numbers

Definitely in the millions.

Cheers,

- Pete