Red admiral in winter [and other unseasonal insects]
I was expecting 2004 to be a very good year for butterflies with the warm year last year and relatively mild winter (as far as I remember). I was rather disappointed though by the sightings I had and I suppose this is due to the frequent wet spells and maybe a lack of warmth.
I spotted this on the UK leps discussion list (slightly edited):
... a Red Admiral [was] seen on ivy at the cliff walk at Howth, Co. Dublin, at the same spot on 25th and 26th November; apparently it was sunny at the time with an estimated temperature of 14 deg. C.In Northern Ireland, Small Tortoiseshells have been reported indoors in a church at Tempo, Co. Fermanagh and in a house (?around Magheralin, Co. Down).
On the South Devon coast 28 November a Red admiral (Quite tatty) was spotted.
A Red Admiral was flying around my valerian, (which is still flowering) in
South Cumbria on 27th November. It was still quite fresh looking. This is the latest in the year that I have ever seen a butterfly here.
and also:
xx informs me of a Speckled Wood seen at Oilgate, Co. Wexford, on 29th November
So are these butterflies being found later in the year than usual and does it bear any relation to the weather of last year and this year?????
Matt
Interested in the Red Admiral being seen two days running in the same spot. A few years ago over a 4-5 year period I had a Red Admiral in my garden in High Wycombe almost every late afternoon mid to late September (if the weather had been reasonbly warm) 5.00pm-6.30pm flying in general circular motions and settling from time to time, even sometimes on me if I stood still. Of course, I realise it could not have been the same one over that period but, allowing for over-wintering, it must have been 2 or 3 . I wondered if the later one(s) had been offspring of the first and there were some genetic/hereditary reason for such similar behaviour. :?