Southward Migration of Painted Lady Vanessa cardui
Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 7:28 am
Crete October 2009
We arrived on Crete on 13th October and we noted small numbers of Painted Lady in the first three days of our stay. On 16th October we were at the top of the Topolia Gorge, one of several gorges in western Crete that run in a north - south direction, and we became aware of a steady stream of Painted Lady, about 60-80 per hour, flying south along the road towards the gorge at 4pm in the afternoon.
The next morning at breakfast in the mountains at Milia increasing numbers were seen, again all heading south, in the early morning sunshine until 10am when it became overcast with drizzle and the migration stopped. The maximum count was 100 in 5 minutes across 50m. A few were seen later in the afternoon flying in light rain but no further migration was noted that day.
On 18th further southerly migration was noted all morning and a count at the northern end of the Topolia gorge produced a rate of 400 per hour through the gorge at midday.
We visited the slopes of Mount Ida (Psiloritis) in the centre of the island on the 19th, our last full day. A five minute count across 50m at 2.15pm amongst the Kermes Oaks produced 26 cardui (312 per hour) all still heading south. By 4.30pm we were down on the south coast at Agios Galini and hundreds of cardui were found nectaring on flowering Tamarisk trees on the beach. Despite the numbers present no visible migration was seen and we speculated that this was due to an unwillingness to set off over the sea that late in the day. By 5pm they had gone to roost among the Tamarisk. We like to think that they made the flight safely across the southern Mediterranean to Africa over the following day(s).
We arrived on Crete on 13th October and we noted small numbers of Painted Lady in the first three days of our stay. On 16th October we were at the top of the Topolia Gorge, one of several gorges in western Crete that run in a north - south direction, and we became aware of a steady stream of Painted Lady, about 60-80 per hour, flying south along the road towards the gorge at 4pm in the afternoon.
The next morning at breakfast in the mountains at Milia increasing numbers were seen, again all heading south, in the early morning sunshine until 10am when it became overcast with drizzle and the migration stopped. The maximum count was 100 in 5 minutes across 50m. A few were seen later in the afternoon flying in light rain but no further migration was noted that day.
On 18th further southerly migration was noted all morning and a count at the northern end of the Topolia gorge produced a rate of 400 per hour through the gorge at midday.
We visited the slopes of Mount Ida (Psiloritis) in the centre of the island on the 19th, our last full day. A five minute count across 50m at 2.15pm amongst the Kermes Oaks produced 26 cardui (312 per hour) all still heading south. By 4.30pm we were down on the south coast at Agios Galini and hundreds of cardui were found nectaring on flowering Tamarisk trees on the beach. Despite the numbers present no visible migration was seen and we speculated that this was due to an unwillingness to set off over the sea that late in the day. By 5pm they had gone to roost among the Tamarisk. We like to think that they made the flight safely across the southern Mediterranean to Africa over the following day(s).