Post by nomad on Oct 10, 2016 12:22:19 GMT
It really is the last of the summer wine for the UK butterflies. A few tatty Pararge aegeria are still on the wing in my area together with a few whites and Polygonia c-album f. hutchinsoni and the Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta. The over-wintering Nymphalid, Inachis io have long since gone into hibernation.
The Vanessa atalanta are really enjoying the sunshine at the Ivy blossoms this year in good numbers. The Red Admiral is mainly a migrant to our shores arriving in May and June and only a tiny fraction will survive their hibernation through the long British winter.
In the rural Wiltshire landscape, an old sheep drove leads from the downland to the small hamlet below. Along part of its way the drove is lined on both sides by old hedges that have in places become overgrown with Ivy. This track has fallen into disuse and in places nettles and long grass have crowded in but at its upper end where the track meets a small copse at the foot of the down it is more open. Here recently by an old tree stump covered in ivy, more than a score of Red Admirals were floating around me as the clouds covered the sun, then returning again to feast on the rich nectar with the buzzing bees and flies or basking on the vegetation nearby. I cannot remember ever having seen so many of these butterflies and a few days later as a strong east wind blew down the drove, many of the Red Admirals had taken shelter at the foot of the down basking in the sunshine on the boughs of beech trees. It would be interesting to walk this drove in the spring to see if any Red Admirals have survived their hibernation but I believe if any did they would quickly disperse to find a nectar source.
There seems to be something special about Vanessa atalanta: there is no other European species that matches that red and combination of colours that are so arresting to the eye with an underside that does not diminish in beauty.
I was surprised to read recently that in times past in parts of Russia this butterfly had a sinister reputation as a harbinger of doom but having not ever being superstitious I rather enjoy its presence and beauty. Here are a few Red Admiral portraits that I took recently.
The old sheep Drove.
Vanessa atalanta
Since I wrote this a couple of weeks ago, October has suddenly seen temperatures plummet and the Red Admirals have disappeared in my area. The Ivy flowers are quickly over and soon the poisonous berries appear. The flowers of the Ivy are also appearing much earlier than they used to, another sign of global warming.
The Vanessa atalanta are really enjoying the sunshine at the Ivy blossoms this year in good numbers. The Red Admiral is mainly a migrant to our shores arriving in May and June and only a tiny fraction will survive their hibernation through the long British winter.
In the rural Wiltshire landscape, an old sheep drove leads from the downland to the small hamlet below. Along part of its way the drove is lined on both sides by old hedges that have in places become overgrown with Ivy. This track has fallen into disuse and in places nettles and long grass have crowded in but at its upper end where the track meets a small copse at the foot of the down it is more open. Here recently by an old tree stump covered in ivy, more than a score of Red Admirals were floating around me as the clouds covered the sun, then returning again to feast on the rich nectar with the buzzing bees and flies or basking on the vegetation nearby. I cannot remember ever having seen so many of these butterflies and a few days later as a strong east wind blew down the drove, many of the Red Admirals had taken shelter at the foot of the down basking in the sunshine on the boughs of beech trees. It would be interesting to walk this drove in the spring to see if any Red Admirals have survived their hibernation but I believe if any did they would quickly disperse to find a nectar source.
There seems to be something special about Vanessa atalanta: there is no other European species that matches that red and combination of colours that are so arresting to the eye with an underside that does not diminish in beauty.
I was surprised to read recently that in times past in parts of Russia this butterfly had a sinister reputation as a harbinger of doom but having not ever being superstitious I rather enjoy its presence and beauty. Here are a few Red Admiral portraits that I took recently.
The old sheep Drove.
Vanessa atalanta
Since I wrote this a couple of weeks ago, October has suddenly seen temperatures plummet and the Red Admirals have disappeared in my area. The Ivy flowers are quickly over and soon the poisonous berries appear. The flowers of the Ivy are also appearing much earlier than they used to, another sign of global warming.