During very warm summers like we are having now many European butterflies start to move north in large numbers. Provided the warmth stays they begin to arrive in N Ireland. In my garden so far I have had Painted Ladies, Peacocks and Red Admirals
This is a Painted Lady.
Here is one with it's wings open
Beautiful butterflies Mark.! What is the pink flower in the first picture?
It's Cosmos 'Picotee'
I never knew you had Painted Lady b'flies over there. Learn something new every day!
are our Painted Ladies the same as yours?
I suppose I should have added the latin name Cynthia cardui
Sure looks the same as ours, but genus and species are different. Here's a link to a US Painted Lady http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/bflyusa/usa/225.htm
Cynthia cardui is most likely a synonym of Vanessa cardui.
Painted Lady is distributed World Wide.
Definitely the same.
Our Red Admiral is Vanessa atalanta.
looks like the name has been changed since '96. Here is a link to our butterfly http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/index.html?/species/bdata/painted_lady.html
