What is this please?

[Strooe]

Hello...can anyone tell me what butterfly this is please?....the colours seem quite muted..
Thank you.

[Rosalyn]

Painted Lady. Migrants so a bit worn by the time they reach our shores

[Strooe]

Thank you so much, how lovely. There were hundreds!

[Strooe]

Thank you so much, how lovely. There were hundreds!

[MikeOxon]

Thank you so much, how lovely. There were hundreds!

It seems that we are currently in a phase of mass migration. It would be interesting to know where you saw them and did they seem to be flying through or were they settled?. In previous years, I have watched them flying Northwards over the Oxfordshire Downs in a steady stream - all seemingly following the same route!

[David M]

The supply to the UK may be drying up. Two weeks ago in NW Italy, I was seeing many hundreds all flying north. Right now, in the French Alps, numbers have dwindled to just a couple of dozen per day.

[essexbuzzard]

I think David is right. Seeing far fewer this week, and the few that are around are on their last legs. Let’s hope they have laid a few eggs...

[NickMorgan]

Interesting. The migration arrived here on the 7th June and they continued to come in from the North Sea for about three weeks, with the numbers only recently reducing. I have never known them to arrive in such numbers.
Red Admirals arrived two days earlier, but not in quite the quantity as the Painted Ladies. Silver Y moths then arrived in enormous numbers, about 10 lays later.
I would love to know where they set out from.
A few years ago I was walking along the coast on 4th July on a typical Scottish summer's day. Wind, mist and drizzle. I was amazed to see several Red Admirals fly in from the gloom. I presume they started off on their journey in glorious sunshine somewhere and they had to keep flying once the weather worsened until they hit land. It is quite something that they are able to continue flying in such conditions. It also intrigues me that they fly over the North Sea, presumably not knowing if there is any land ahead of them. I hope that there were none that missed the UK and continued towards the Atlantic!
I guess that once all of the butterfly records for the year are received by Butterfly Conservation their route into the UK can be traced. Similarly our European friends will hopefully have records of numbers and locations that may allow us to figure out the route and dates of the migration.

[Jack Harrison]

It also intrigues me that they fly over the North Sea, presumably not knowing if there is any land ahead of them

Wasn't a certain C. Columbus a few centuries ago similarly uncertain ?

Jack