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On recent visit to Jersey I took the following photo of a number of Red Admirals feeding on tree sap. There are 8 in the photo (apologies for the quality of the photo) and there were at least a dozen Red Admirals overall in the area. Is this a commonplace occurrence? Peresonally I've never seen this many congregating in one spot.

I remember seeing something similar, once, on a tree in the Gardens of Heligan. Red Admirals will congregate wherever a sweet substance is available in the Autumn - usually apples or other fruit, but tree sap is another possibility. I think it is one of those things where you have to be in the right place at the right time, in order to see it.

Gatherings of Red Admirals aren't uncommon and they tend to tolerate one another's presence better than most species.

They don't always need to find sugar sources either. Take this image for example, which was actually four individuals until just prior to me pressing the shutter when one flew off:
Many nymphalids find a sap run irresistible. One of my greatest wishes is to chance upon one in a Purple Emperor wood and just sit there all day watching the action!

I was lucky enough to find a Red Admiral on an oak tree on 29 June after 6:30 pm in my local wood.

ATB

Peter

Catteraxe wrote:On recent visit to Jersey I took the following photo of a number of Red Admirals feeding on tree sap. There are 8 in the photo (apologies for the quality of the photo) and there were at least a dozen Red Admirals overall in the area. Is this a commonplace occurrence? Peresonally I've never seen this many congregating in one spot.

I can remember seeing at least six on an isolated Silver Birch in the New Forest a couple of years ago.