Red Admiral
Vanessa atalanta
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A migrant from the Mediterranean that has started, in mild winters, to simply stay.
A large, strong-flying butterfly, velvety black with a bold scarlet band across each forewing and along the hindwing margin, and white flecks at the wingtip. Red admirals are common in gardens, orchards and woodland edge around Dumfries from early summer, and are often the last butterfly still flying in November, feeding on windfall fruit and ivy blossom.
Behaviour
Red admirals are territorial and will repeatedly return to a favoured sunny perch, seeing off other butterflies. In late autumn they gorge on rotting apples and pears and can become noticeably sluggish. Caterpillars live singly inside a tent made by folding a nettle leaf and sealing it with silk. Traditionally the whole British population arrived from the south each year; increasingly some now survive our winters.
Migration
Red admirals migrate north from the Mediterranean and North Africa each spring, arriving in Scotland from May, and their offspring head south again in autumn. Milder winters mean a growing number now overwinter here as adults instead of making the journey.
When to see it
Quick facts
- Family
- Brush-footed butterflies (Nymphalidae)
- Wingspan
- 6.5–7.5 cm
- Status
- Migrant, now increasingly resident; common
Photo by Christian Fischer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons