This week we had a visit from a Painted Lady….

…..No! Not that kind of Painted Lady; this is Monday Macro after all!

Painted Lady Butterfly©HelenBushe

The Painted Lady is a long-distance migrant, which causes the most spectacular butterfly migrations observed in Britain and Ireland.

Each year, it spreads northwards from the desert fringes of North Africa, the Middle East, and central Asia, recolonising mainland Europe and reaching Britain and Ireland.- Butterfly Conservation

Monday Macro Painted Lady Butterfly on Buddleia

Painted Lady on Buddleia ©HelenBushe

Adults are first seen in late March as they start to arrive on our shores and numbers build up in May and June as further migrants arrive from the continent. These breed and give rise to the next generation that peaks in early August. There may be more than one brood in the British Isles each year – depending largely on the weather.

This butterfly is continuously brooded on the continent, which may be the cause of its ultimate demise in the British Isles, since it seems unable to survive our winter in any stage. However, it is thought that some individuals may make an attempt at a return migration in autumn. – UK Butterflies

About once every 10 years there is a mass migration of Painted Ladies from North Africa via Southern Europe, due to overpopulation in their homelands. In 2009 it’s estimated that over 11 million arrived in UK.

That was the year the newspaper headlines screamed: “UK expecting invasion of 11 million Painted Ladies“, which I’m sure led to some people being disappointed when they read that it was all about butterflies.

This year, so far, we have had one in the garden. Looking out at the wind and the rain this afternoon, we may not see another one this year.

When I looked closely at this photograph , I thought I could detect a look of surprise on its wee face:

Painted Lady on Path ©HelenBushe

Whilst here, it seemed to be smiling:

Painted Lady’s Smile ©HelenBushe

You can find more MONDAY MACROS here:

Pollination

White Butterflies

Damselflies

Moths, Dragonflies and other Mini-Beasts

13 Comments

bushboy · 11 August 2017 at 02:22

Lovely Helen 🙂

Laurie Graves · 7 August 2017 at 14:04

It’s amazing how far those lovely creatures migrate. Nice shots!

HMB · 7 August 2017 at 19:27

Thanks Laurie. They amaze me too.

hbs1991 · 7 August 2017 at 13:35

You are so good Helen at getting your subjects to set still long enough to press the shutter button! Do you use a cotton ball with cloroform? LOL Yesterday, butterflies and bees of all sorts were so camera shy, they would not set still a second! You are lucky Helen! 🙂

HMB · 7 August 2017 at 19:30

Chloroform? Hmmmm….that’s an idea. Might work better than the heavy duty Hairspray I normally use LOL . Some days they don’t settle at all. But if it was easy then it wouldn’t be nearly so much fun. As soon as they do settle on a flower, just keep your pinpoint focus on the eye and move around with them . It does work sometimes! It’s so good when it does.