Painted Ladies on Scout Scar

Flowers were crowded with pollinators: painted ladies,  small skipper and a throng of bees.  All interest was focused on this sole clump of knapweed on a still and sultry morning. The painted ladies looked fresh and bright.  Two or three weeks ago those on Scout Scar were worn and faded.  Painted ladies make an awesome migration, from North Africa. With staging posts as they head north, they make landfall and breed along the way.  They're strong fliers but butterflies so perfect  will not be the generation that set out earlier this year.  A map of weather and its effect on this year's stages of migration would be good. 
There were several painted ladies nectaring on the knapweed.  And lots more in the locality on garden buddleia.  This is said to be an exceptionally good summer for painted ladies.  So far, I've seen numbers but not more than last summer.  

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Painted ladies are remarkable for their long-distance migration, their strength and navigational skills.  And the way weather patterns determine their direction  and time of travel and ultimate destination in a particular summer. Look for their nectaring plants because that's where they'll be, if they're here.  They are a strikingly beautiful butterfly.  Having taken photographs of the butterfly in classic, open-winged pose I like to capture the  way they interact with knapweed flowers.  And to show how sunlight renders them translucent.  The pattern of the under-wing is lovely,  a flash of garnet red and  kingfisher blue- in certain lights.  They are dazzlingly beautiful,  a play of sunlight and self-shadow through wings of bewildering pattern that confuse predators. 
What these images do not show is the jostle and bustle for nectar amongst the different insects. 

The morning was sultry and still.  Perfect for basking adders but I saw none.  This is the season to find a juvenile cuckoo food begging from a foster- parent- a scoop in August 2014.   The call is nothing like the familiar cuckoo call so you have to be alert to a loud, insistent begging. 
Today, the highlight was painted lady butterflies.

For more blog posts on painted ladies click on the link 
Smardale. Newbiggin on Lune to Smardale Viaduct 
Painted Ladies at Sunset 
Barbon with painted ladies and sheep folds