Painted Lady
2022 has been a bit of a mixed bag for butterflies. It seems to have been a bumper year for some species like Holly Blues and Wall Browns, and on 13 August I had a Dark Green Fritillary in my garden, which I hadn't previously seen within 10 miles. Yet things like Purple Hairstreak have been almost non-existent locally this year. Red Admirals and Painted Ladies are thankfully in good numbers this year. They do not (usually) overwinter in Britain so their numbers are dependent on two things. First a good influx from the Continent in early spring. And second good survival rates of the caterpillars of the spring immigrant parents. Painted Lady caterpillars feed on thistles but the adults feed on a range of nectar-rich flowers. In the autumn most of the British Painted Ladies make the return journey back to North Africa. I photographed this freshly-emerged individual nectaring on Creeping Thistle near home this morning.
The earliest published butterfly book in Britain was by James Petiver in 1699 (Before Petiver butterflies had no English names) and he came up with the name Painted Lady, which has been with us ever since. The only real dissent came about a hundred years later in 1795 when William Lewin proposed "the Thistle" as a direct translation of its scientific name (cardui) on which its caterpillars feed. Fortunately Lewin's name didn't catch on and Petiver's beautifully evocative name endured. The first part of the Scientific name is Vanessa, and was given by Fabricius in 1807 after a title character in Jonathan Swift's poem; Cadenus and Vanessa.
Painted Lady
2022 has been a bit of a mixed bag for butterflies. It seems to have been a bumper year for some species like Holly Blues and Wall Browns, and on 13 August I had a Dark Green Fritillary in my garden, which I hadn't previously seen within 10 miles. Yet things like Purple Hairstreak have been almost non-existent locally this year. Red Admirals and Painted Ladies are thankfully in good numbers this year. They do not (usually) overwinter in Britain so their numbers are dependent on two things. First a good influx from the Continent in early spring. And second good survival rates of the caterpillars of the spring immigrant parents. Painted Lady caterpillars feed on thistles but the adults feed on a range of nectar-rich flowers. In the autumn most of the British Painted Ladies make the return journey back to North Africa. I photographed this freshly-emerged individual nectaring on Creeping Thistle near home this morning.
The earliest published butterfly book in Britain was by James Petiver in 1699 (Before Petiver butterflies had no English names) and he came up with the name Painted Lady, which has been with us ever since. The only real dissent came about a hundred years later in 1795 when William Lewin proposed "the Thistle" as a direct translation of its scientific name (cardui) on which its caterpillars feed. Fortunately Lewin's name didn't catch on and Petiver's beautifully evocative name endured. The first part of the Scientific name is Vanessa, and was given by Fabricius in 1807 after a title character in Jonathan Swift's poem; Cadenus and Vanessa.