Red Admiral
I was out for a walk around a local reservoir yesterday and came across this freshly-emerged Red Admiral. I love Red Admirals as they are the only butterflies in the whole of Europe that is full-on red. We have a few red moths such as Burnets and Cinnabar, but in non-tropical butterflies it is a rare colour. This hadn't occurred to me until I read Peter Marren's excellent "Rainbow Dust: Three Centuries of Delight in British Butterflies". In France it is known as Le Vulcain, after Vulcan, blacksmith of the gods, with the dark forge, fire and splashes of blue-white hot iron. It has always been a butterfly of unpredictable numbers as it does not live in Britain year-round. It migrates from further south and builds up its numbers over each summer. In favourable weather many reach Britain to breed but in poor years they are very scarce. In autumn the butterflies fly south again, just like birds do. Nabokov (author of Lolita and a great butterfly enthusiast) recalled how vast numbers appeared across the Russian steppes up to the Arctic Circle in 1881, the year that Tsar Alexander II was assassinated which threw the state into disarray. The butterfly was thought as a messenger of death when people noticed a rather shaky figure of eight with a one below (these are the blue bits on the hindwings, clearer in some individuals but not at all obvious here) so has 1881 at the bottom of its wings.
It is a myth that the name Red Admiral is a corruption of Red Admirable. The earliest recorded use of Red Admiral was posthumously by Thomas Moffet in 1634 (Moffat died in 1604 so the name must have been in use by the early seventeenth century). The name Admirable was first used by Benjamin Wilkes (1747-9), then Moses Harris (1775), both more than a century after Admiral.
The scientific name Vanessa atalanta sounds like it is steeped in classical mythology, but this is only partly true. Atalanta was the beautiful and swift huntress who challenged suitors to a race and killed them if they lost. She was eventually beaten by Milanion who threw golden apples in front of her during the race and Atalanta could not resist stopping to gather them. The name Vanessa was given by Fabricius in 1807 after a title character in Jonathan Swift's poem; Cadenus and Vanessa. Nothing to do with classical mythology. This was an autobiographical poem about Esther Vanhomrigh's love for Swift. Esther is Vanessa and Cadenus is Swift.
Red Admiral
I was out for a walk around a local reservoir yesterday and came across this freshly-emerged Red Admiral. I love Red Admirals as they are the only butterflies in the whole of Europe that is full-on red. We have a few red moths such as Burnets and Cinnabar, but in non-tropical butterflies it is a rare colour. This hadn't occurred to me until I read Peter Marren's excellent "Rainbow Dust: Three Centuries of Delight in British Butterflies". In France it is known as Le Vulcain, after Vulcan, blacksmith of the gods, with the dark forge, fire and splashes of blue-white hot iron. It has always been a butterfly of unpredictable numbers as it does not live in Britain year-round. It migrates from further south and builds up its numbers over each summer. In favourable weather many reach Britain to breed but in poor years they are very scarce. In autumn the butterflies fly south again, just like birds do. Nabokov (author of Lolita and a great butterfly enthusiast) recalled how vast numbers appeared across the Russian steppes up to the Arctic Circle in 1881, the year that Tsar Alexander II was assassinated which threw the state into disarray. The butterfly was thought as a messenger of death when people noticed a rather shaky figure of eight with a one below (these are the blue bits on the hindwings, clearer in some individuals but not at all obvious here) so has 1881 at the bottom of its wings.
It is a myth that the name Red Admiral is a corruption of Red Admirable. The earliest recorded use of Red Admiral was posthumously by Thomas Moffet in 1634 (Moffat died in 1604 so the name must have been in use by the early seventeenth century). The name Admirable was first used by Benjamin Wilkes (1747-9), then Moses Harris (1775), both more than a century after Admiral.
The scientific name Vanessa atalanta sounds like it is steeped in classical mythology, but this is only partly true. Atalanta was the beautiful and swift huntress who challenged suitors to a race and killed them if they lost. She was eventually beaten by Milanion who threw golden apples in front of her during the race and Atalanta could not resist stopping to gather them. The name Vanessa was given by Fabricius in 1807 after a title character in Jonathan Swift's poem; Cadenus and Vanessa. Nothing to do with classical mythology. This was an autobiographical poem about Esther Vanhomrigh's love for Swift. Esther is Vanessa and Cadenus is Swift.