A Painted Lady Butterfly, Vanessa cardui, resting and basking in the sun on the seedhead of a Drumstick Allium, Allium sphaerocephalon.
Painted Ladies are migratory in Europe, and irruptive in the UK, so we don’t see them every year, but some year we get lots. The butterflies summer in Europe, having arrived from North Africa and the Middle East. They breed in early summer in mainland Europe, and the ones which arrive as far north as Scotland (in some years) in late summer hatched in Europe at that time.
This year, I only saw one Painted Lady on each of two occasions nearly three weeks apart. In previous years, I didn’t see any in my garden, but in recent years there have been two late summers with large numbers, especially nectaring on my Buddlejas.
About twenty (-ish!) years ago, I was swimming in the Mediterranean off the north coast of Corfu, Greece when suddenly I was surrounded by migrating Painted Ladies, at least dozens of them, flying low over the water as they flew in towards land.
Butterflies bask in the sun, usually in the mornings, to absorb heat from the sun’s rays to enable them to fly. Butterflies are cold-blooded ectotherms, meaning they rely on external sources to warm them up. Each individual butterfly orients itself to maximise exposure to the sun on its back, hence this position is known as dorsal basking.
This image is copyright © Liz Leyden. All rights strictly as agreed in writing with the author or her agent.
My photo of a basking Painted Lady Butterfly is available to license as a Rights-managed stock photo from my portfolio at Alamy.
