12th November - A Pretty Painted Palette of Perfection

 After an early morning of continual drizzle that turned to quite heavy rain Inever expected to meet up with today's garden visitor.  As the clouds parted and we were treated to some autumnal sunshine and out in my garden in Four Marks I noticed movement on the remaining Buddleia flowers.  What I had seen was a very large dopey Bumblebee, but then from behind the bee a butterfly took off and circled with that powerful but controlled flight and almost immediately returned to another flower head.  A Red Admiral.

Wings open and flat at first but then closed as it moved around nectaring the small flowers on the bush.

Then the wings opened up once again to take advantage of what warmth there was in the sunshine.

There has been a Red Admiral, maybe this one around the garden since the start of the month, the sunshine and mild weather helping to support the insect.

Despite the fact that Red Admiral is seen late in the year and then again one of the first butterflies to emerge in the spring, the Red Admiral does not hibernate in the way taht Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell do.

Although a few Red Admirals may seem to hibernate in the British Isles during mild winters, these generally settle in exposed places, such as on tree trunks or under branches and usually perish. It is likely that these are late emerging adults that become trapped after the onset of conditions too cold for flight. The few adults that are seen on sunny days from December to February are believed to result from late caterpillars that were able to develop in warm spots.  Those seen from around March onwards are pupae that have survived over the winter.

It will be interesting to see how late this butterfly can go this year.