www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

This week there was a large black butterfly or moth on the tread of my tyre. It blended in so well. I thought it was a wad of wet leaves so picked it off and dropped it on the ground. I still thought it was a wadge of wet leaves. As I went round the car to get in I then saw it's antennae and it suddenly got up and flew away!!

I've never seen a butterfly like it. It was large - the length and width of my fingers - and was all black but with a centimetre band of white on the edge of the wings. I mostly saw its underside but would say it was all black - no dots. I was told it was a White Admiral, but still can't identify it even as an aberration.

Can anyone help please?

The fact the you picked it up and dropped it suggests a moth to me. Butterflies wouldn't do that really, they'd scarper before you'd got near them. Can I throw in "Old Lady" to the group, although I'm not a mothy kinda guy.

Danny

Hi, The description of the butterfly sounds like a Camberwell Beauty to me - about the length of your finger, black, with a pale border. However I can't really imagine picking it up without it flying away either.
Alexander

Thank you both for your input. I'm sure now that it was the Camberwell beauty and I feel quite privileged that it chose my car tyre to rest on. I see it's a rare migrant! I'm glad too that I didn't just drive off and ignore it!!

Where abouts do you live? I've always wanted to see a Camberwell Beauty.

I live in Norfolk, but I can't say they are prevalent here. I've never seen one before.

Pat, to my understanding Norfolk is Britain's top county for this species as they usually fly over from Scandinavia- they're certainly a rarity!
Alexander

Thanks Alex. That makes perfect sense. It must have been competely exhasted to have let me pick it off my tyre and the DROP it on the ground, laying there for a few minutes and THEN wakng up and flying away!!
What I can't understand is why I didn't recognise it as a butterfly - I'm not a buttefly enthusiast (well, I wasn't!) but I am very nature-aware!
Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Pat, if it was a Camberwell Beauty, you are a privilidged person indeed. I have *never* seen a camberwell Beauty...although when I was in the Baltics in 1994 I saw a few, but they weren't over here so it's not a tick!

Danny

Yes Danny I really do feel privileged. It was one of those special, magical moments that come along now and again.

It rated with the time I sat next to a fence and several wasps repeatedly came to it to munch the wood to take back to build their nest. Every time I see some wood with parallel lines scratched on it, I think of those wasps and the beautiful nests they build.
Amazing what we can see in those still and gentle moments!