This has been one of the worse summers for butterflies in the Highlands for many years. As reported in August in this column there have been very few exceptions. One of these has been the Scotch argus but another, from more recent records, has been the painted lady. Not that there have been large numbers but a few have been reported in gardens in various places in and around Inverness. Painted ladies are in the group of butterflies often referred to as “the aristocrats”. This was a term devised by some of the early entomologists for the largest and most colourful butterflies in the British Countryside. It was fitting then that they gave them noble-sounding names such as red admiral, peacock and painted lady. Two of the others were the smallest, the small tortoiseshell and the largest, the purple emperor.
Most of these aristocrats live through the winter as hibernating butterflies but the red admiral and painted lady are not normally able to survive our winters. Instead they migrate from the Continent or North Africa every year. In mild winters a few red admirals may survive the winter in the south of Britain but in general it is amazing to think that the red admirals seen in our gardens at any time of the summer will have flown from southern Europe. The painted lady is different as there does not seem to be any part in Europe where it is a permanent resident. The butterflies seen come mainly from the desert edges of North Africa and Arabia where vast numbers emerge in most years. They teem northwards across the Continent reaching some part of the British Isles every year.
The very exceptional year was in 2009 and I am only too pleased that I was able to witness the phenomena as it was what was the most spectacular immigration of any butterflies ever recorded in the British Isles. They seemed to be everywhere from the coast to the tops of hills and, of course, in our garden. I remember seeing many of the painted ladies on the tip of the Tarbatness peninsular on the east coast. I watched them circling round the headland and then heading, once again, north. This habit of butterflies in assembling on a headland, sometimes very high, is called “hill topping” and seems to enable them to find their course. That year they were even seen in Iceland and Norway. I doubt whether we shall ever see so many again in our lifetime.
Despite their large numbers and the various people who have studied them, such migrants as the painted lady still hold their mysteries. For example what happens to them all? None seem to hibernate as they die at the first frosts. There is the suggestion, with gathering proof over the years, that there is a reverse migration. Then again are the ones we see this far north results of them breeding on their way from Africa or are they the original butterflies that set off? Breeding on the way could answer why there were no painted ladies seen this spring. They could have come into southern Britain and then managed a brood before the offspring set off further north. So what will the overall dearth of butterflies in the Highlands mean for next year? Well the more resident ones such as the meadow browns and small coppers may well have another poor year as there must have been very few that laid eggs so that larvae or eggs could overwinter. As for the migrants such as the painted lady it might just be business as usual and masses of migrants coming from abroad again.