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Painted Lady - Favourite Photo 2016

Week 12

Bit later this week due to the festivities - Happy Christmas!

Please could I ask that everyone waits until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos - just to make it easier to organise and keep everything on track so that we can enjoy this throughout the winter months? Of course our overseas members are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants. As like last year details of locations, dates, times and circumstances would be welcome as would any accompanying stories and anecdotes or other observations of behaviour and interesting other points.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

My photos were taken in my Back Garden on the 6th of June, I was very pleased to see the Painted Lady after spending a couple of years it seemed without many sightings in the North. Goldie

During June 2016, I noticed several Painted Lady females laying eggs amongst the many thistle patches that occur across Pevensey Levels. I made a mental note to return a few weeks later to search for larvae.
(the photograph should be in the vertical...I'm sure it's easy but I couldn't figure it out!)

A reasonable year for these for me, particularly later in the season when the home bred animals started to appear and noticeably more than 2015 when we were supposed to have a Painted Lady invasion! The underside I think often gets forgotten about when compared with the gaudy upper but here's a couple which show of the intricate underwing patterning: The first I found licking a stone just as I was leaving Denbies one afternoon. The second I found on one of my failed Brown Hairstreak hunts at Steyning.

Decent year for Painted Ladies - I probably saw getting on for a hundred in the UK in various places.

Amazingly, one of these was in FEBRUARY - perhaps the only time in my life when I'll be able to claim this species as the first butterfly seen in a calendar year:
Most of the rest were seen after midsummer, with this fresh specimen being photographed in Pembrokeshire on 13th August:

I saw a scattering of this species in various spots this year, including this splendid specimen with distinct blue spots on the hindwings, see at Denbies on 8th September. I also recall with pleasure the first one seen this year, a brightly-coloured but rather rather chewed-looking insect which turned up on 14th May at Bedfont Lakes Country Park. Dave

My photo was taken on a memorable day at Noar Hill, when I met up with Pauline to find Autumn Lady's Tresses Orchids (Spiranthes spiralis).

The Pained Lady was an excellent bonus, seen while walking back towards the car.
Mike

Any year in which I see more than a dozen or so Painted Ladies is a good one for me and so 2016 was slightly better than average. I saw my first example up in Scotland at Cuil Bay in early June and then a couple more in South Cumbria when we stopped for a couple of days on our return to the midlands. Later in the summer there was a scattering of examples around my local patch and then in early September another half a dozen or so were seen in Cornwall.

My favourite photos were these two showing topside and underside of the same individual seen at Gwithian Towns in early September.
Cheers,

Neil

A fairly good year for the species here. The really noticeable thing was the way they enjoyed the patch of small scabious I have grown in the garden. They were not alone in this - whites, peacocks, small tortoiseshells and gatekeepers also indulged.

Painted Lady

Having had a bit of a wait for my first Painted Lady plus not being able to get a shot off I wasn’t expecting to have much luck with this species this year. As it was I got onto them a couple more times as well as getting some shots of them. Tis one was my fave mainly because it reminds me of a lovely family outing to Martin Down. The pressure was off (having met both my butterfly and work targets) and I could just enjoy the final throes of summer with this Painted Lady making one more highlight of an afternoon full of them.
Have a goodun

Wurzel

These appeared in my garden on May 5th - somewhat earlier that usual - and persisted all the way through to late September.

This rather distant shot from the white 'valerian' in my front garden on the day I first spotted them.

We saw several Painted Lady Butterflies in August in Lincolnshire. A lot more then than in May. We also saw a few dopey, battered individuals into October which were not (in my opinion) going to romantically migrate anywhere else !
This picture was taken next to a cycle path on 8th August.