Thursday 28 May 2009

Butterflies

A painted lady butterfly, this is a summer migrant to the UK and according to UKButterflies.co.uk there are large numbers migrating in from continental Europe, originating from Morocco. The right weather conditions in Africa and Europe and the recent good weather in the UK could result in possibly the biggest for migration for decades.
The Butterfly Conservation website has a survey for these and migrant butterflies (http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/sightings_home/1095/migrant_watch.html) and these two sightings have now been added.




Unlike the painted lady, the peacock butterfly is not a migrant, instead they hibernate through the winter.



References
UK Butterflies: http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/index.php
Butterfly Conservation: http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/
Complete British Wildlife Photoguide (Collins - 1997)
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3 comments:

  1. twilightgecko2 June 2009 at 14:27

    wonderful photos..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kate6 June 2009 at 08:39

    I've just come back from the Canaries - clouds of painted lady butterflies there. It was lovely to see.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Richard8 June 2009 at 09:51

    Hi TwighlightGecko and thanks for comment.
    The UK is apparently in a frenzy of migrating butterflys, I saw another 10 after taking these pictures and I haven't seen any more since.

    ReplyDelete

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