Painted Lady Vanessa cardui
(aka Cynthia cardui)
Painted Lady, Monks Eleigh Garden, Suffolk, England, July 2009 - click for larger image

The Painted Lady is one of the most common butterflies in the world. The ones found in Europe are immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East.

Some years there are very large influxes to the British Isles and 2009, when photos 1 to 3 were taken, was one of these years. It is estimated that one weekend in May about 28 million Painted Ladies crossed the Channel into England.
Painted Lady, Walberswick, Suffolk, England, July 2009 - click for larger image Because the caterpillar can tolerate quite low temperatures, it can be found in more northerly latitudes than most butterflies. It is the only butterfly to be found in Iceland and photo 4 was taken on the island of St Kilda in August 2003.

Eggs are normally laid on thistles and the caterpillars emerge to eat the thistle leaves.
Painted Lady, Walberswick, Suffolk, England, July 2009 - click for larger image Several generations of Painted Lady can occur in Britain over a summer and I think that the butterfly in photo 3 is a newly emerged second generation because the colour is salmon-pink rather than the orange-brown that is acquired with age.

There is more information available at UK Butterflies.

Painted Lady, St Kilda, Scotland, August 2003 - click for larger image To find out more about the Painted Lady long distance migration involving several generations in the one journey see this article.
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