If You've Got It Flaunt It.

A Painted Lady - nothing shy about her as you would expect from the name! Wings open and flaunting it!

On arrival here in the UK from Europe, predominantly in the south but prevailing winds carry them further north. They breed immediately laying their eggs usually on thistle or mallow leaves pupating in about 6 weeks emerging as adults 2 weeks later.

I think they are a stunning looking butterfly and I saw this one in the Wye Valley this afternoon just before getting hopelessly lost in the middle of a huge wood. A walk that should have been about four miles must have been considerably longer and with no-one around to ask at all it was a bit scary. Note to self:  'Take your phone or even a larger map!' 

In one of the largest projects ever conducted research was done to find out if the butterfly made the return journey to Europe or just died here as they cannot hibernate. With 60,000 sightings during 2009, ( possibly the biggest migratory year ever) including radar images their movement was tracked across southern England with 10,000 British observers taking part. It was found that yes they did migrate south each autumn at high altitude of about 500m reaching speeds of 30 mph. Even more staggering is that they undertake a 9,000 mile round trip from tropical Africa to the Arctic Circle (a distance double that of the Monarchs in North America). The journey is not done by individuals but by about 6 generations. The Painted Ladies returning to Africa are therefore several generations removed from their ancestors who left Africa earlier in the year. I find all this fascinating in that something so small and fragile can do this.