Friday, 18 November 2011

Red Admirals in Autumn

One of the striking sights around the end of October was seeing Red Admirals taking nectar from ivy flowers along hedgerows and on trees, when all other butterflies had disappeared for the winter.

Traditionally this species was thought of as a migrant, reaching us from N Africa and the Med in late May or June, but being unable to successfully hibernate (as a butterfly) with us. This seems to be changing, and surely these very late ones are intending to hibernate here in Wales.

If you see any Red Ads in Wales from November onwards, please pass your records on to raymondsandiford@yahoo.co.uk who has found the species over-wintering on Lleyn and Anglesey. The latest Butterfly Conservation North Wales newsletter has an item from Ray.

No comments:

Post a Comment