The Red Admiral
Have you noticed the days towards the end of the summer when red admirals visit, enjoying the last of the warm weather. Each year, we have a solitary red admiral which suns on the front of the house in the morning. It spends afternoons fluttering around the buddleia in the garden. It’s clearly a different red admiral each year, which chooses to live within close proximity of our home. It always seems strange to only see the one visitor though.
Red admirals generally arrive in the UK from North Africa, and mainland Europe. Although more recently, there has been speculation that some may live their entire life in the UK. Their host plant for egg laying is the nettle. Caterpillars can be hard to spot, as they build a protective tent around themselves. Pulling together two sides of a nettle leaf, and securing with silk, the caterpillar remains inside until it needs somewhere larger. At which point it moves on, and repeats the tent building process. Eventually it will pupate, often by building a similar nettle leaf tent in which to transform.
The life span of a red admiral is only about 10-11 months. Since temperatures in the UK tend to be warmer than previously, some butterflies will stay over winter. Observers think that rather than hibernating, the red admiral simply roosts. They continue to rest during colder weather, and may be seen on sunny days. The Butterfly Conservation website has more detail on their changing habits.
The butterfly pictured below was sunning itself on my windscreen on a warm December day a couple of years ago. The slightly tattered wing and orange in place of red on the wings suggest it’s an older member of the community.
Red admirals are said to signify powerful spirits or souls. Whatever their significance might be, I enjoy seeing our visitor(s). They certainly add beautiful colours to any given day.
This is fascinating, Emma! I’ve always taken an interest in butterflies and moths, but have very little knowledge about butterfly species such as this one. I’ve spent more time if anything looking at moths, and raised a woolly bear caterpillar through pupa stage to become a Tiger Moth in my teens! This was in a ventilated cylindrical celluloid “tank” from my school’s biology lab – I had started the project at school, and when the holiday came I was permitted to take the tank home to continue the caring process. That nettle “tent” sounds interesting, I will look out for them. In my very early childhood years in the 1950’s/60’s, my room had picture rails with pictures on cords, which hung forward slightly. It seemed to be a favourite place, behind these pictures, for butterflies to rest dormant over the winter (perhaps hibernating in those colder times, rather than roosting?), and it was not unusual when spring came, to see one of these fluttering at the window, needing to be let out! Perhaps it isn’t surprising that I married a Zoology graduate who specialised in entomology, although this wasn’t a major factor in our early relationship! It helps though now when we come across an unusual insect, and we have at least one friend who always contacts us, with photo’s, when she finds one she doesn’t recognise – we have insect books, and of course there is the vast library of the web too, to look up anything that is not clear from our books.
Thanks for reading, and taking the time to comment, Trevor. Small tortoiseshell and peacock butterflies used to hibernate in the garden shed when I was a child. Others found places inside, and would wake and flutter at windows in the spring. I cared for a vapourer moth caterpillar many years ago. A beautiful caterpillar, which hatched into a female of the species. The females are wingless, and attract males by giving off pheromones. It was something of a surprise when she emerged! Insects and other mini beasts have always fascinated me. Such diversity and so many interesting lifestyles. Watching through a lens really highlights some of the varied behaviours across different species.