Red Admiral
Butterflies are big and brightly
coloured, regularly visiting buddleia and similar
flowering garden plants in the hight of summer.
Marbled White has a wingspan of about 2 inches (55mm) and is found in Grasslands at the height of Summer. The Larvae feed on grasses (of which our only partially mown plot has a vast supply) and hibernate until early spring. They pupate in July, and adult emerging after some 3 weeks.
We took this multiflash photograph in free flight using a flash triggered by breaking an infrared beam.
The Painted
lady Butterfly is a summer migrant to
the UK, though some colonies are believed to
survive the winter on the south coast.
Numbers vary tremendously from year to year according to weather conditions, as for large number to appear the need favourable wind for them to survive the channel crossing.
This is another butterfly easily attracted to gardens with buddleia and other flowering plants.