www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

I'm fairly confident I have seen a Large Tortoiseshell on my local patch, west of the Forest of Dean. It was in an area where I also saw Clouded Yellow, Painted lady and numerous silver y moths. Frustratingly, I couldn't get a photo. Do Large Tortoiseshells migrate? Have there been other sightings this summer?

It'd be highly surprising if a Large Tortoiseshell turned up in Monmouthshire/Gloucestershire as a migrant having not been recorded earlier upon its flight path.

That said, the Welsh/English borders were once the main stronghold of this species (albeit nearly a century ago).

If you were able to capture it on film, then it would create reverberations far and wide.

For the last two years at least, this species has been seen on the Isle of Wight in spring.

To date, to my knowledge, no evidence of any of the earlier stages has been recorded.

Until that happens, this species will continue to be considered as a migrant, and as such wouldn't be expected to occur considerably inland within the British Isles unless, like the current influx of Clouded Yellows, they'd been spotted earlier nearer the south coast.