She’s here, the gorgeous Painted Lady

ON some mornings last week the slight chill in the air and the golden sunlight would make one believe autumn, “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness”, had already arrived.

In the garden, the tips of the verbena was like a tapestry woven on a purple background, so many were the tortoiseshell butterflies feeding there and so bright their colours. Last week, also, I saw the first Painted Lady of the year, a gorgeous creature, as bright and fresh as if it had just emerged from the cocoon. Yet it must have flown, at least, from France, presumably in the first brood hatched from eggs laid by parents that had come from North Africa.

Last year there were almost no Small Tortoiseshells flying but thousands of Painted Ladys from south of the Atlas Mountains arrived the end of May. This year, the tortoiseshells are in abundance but not a single Painted Lady showed up hereabouts until August 20.