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Hi,

Still being relatively new to the Butterfly world please forgive me if the following sounds strange.
About half an hour ago I went upstairs to draw the curtains and found a Painted Lady ! Not too sure who was most surprised and after a flutter around the bedroom it finally settled on our duvet. I really wasn't too sure what to do with it as seemed mean to put it outside on a night like tonight . It's disappeared again now but can somebody help and give me advice on what to do with it if it reappears?
Thankyou
Shirley

Just found it again, flying around the landing and it is a small tortoiseshell and not a painted lady. Sorry I did say I was new but help would be appreciated as don't think it is going far!
Shirley

Hi Shirley,

If I were you I would pop it in a large tub until the morning and if it's not too cold, put it outside, (houses dry them out as they are too warm)
In the morning take the lid off (not in direct rain) and it will probably quite happily fly off. If not, you can keep it protected in a shed/garage until the spring.
HTH

Denise

Hi Denise,
Thank you very much for your help. I did what you said and have just let it go in the garden so hope it will find a nice hidey hole somewhere. Thanks again.
Shirley

It needs to be cool to hibernate satisfactorily. It came indoors (thinking the house is a sensible cool place for the winter) but then of course, heating kicked in and conditions are not suitable so it wakes up. By releasing it, it could well find a suitable place, eg unheated garage. But perhaps the best technique is to catch it, put in a dark container and put outdoors (on in the garage/shed) OUT OF THE SUN. Then let it wake up naturally in March. To be really sure it doesn't wake too early, it's perfectly OK to keep the box in the fridge where the temperature with a more or less a constant 4 to 6 degrees, ideal for hibernation. That's how I successfully keep my hibernating pupae.

Jack

I know this is a VERY late reply but thanks for the advice and today in the sunshine our winter visitor woke up and flew off!!! Good to see it survived the winter and just hope it can survive now it has faced the big world again.
Thanks again
Shirley

thats great news, shirley and im sure, he/she will survive