Red Admiral Feeding on Ivy

Hello Vanessa

In spite of the temperature being 12.4C this Vanessa atlanta (Red Admiral butterfly) fluttered into view to rest and take advantage of the first period of Sunshine for several days.

Having a Flutter or Two

With the recent unseasonally hot afternoons I have actually seen a few butterflies.
In fact Lincolnshire recorded the highest temperature in the UK today.
It was some 6C above the seasonal average at around 23C. Alas it's not going to last.

A Red Admiral was good enough to pose on the Ivy



A Comma settled on one of the hanging baskets





Yesterday a Small Copper was feeding on a Dandelion in the back garden but its behaviour was more typical - flying off just as I got it in focus. At least the somewhat overgrown grass was dry enough for me to give it a trim. My garden is not what I would call large but my phone, which was in my pocket, indicated that I walked half a mile while mowing the grass.

Yet More Admirals

This morning passing a different Ivy plant I counted fifteen Red Admirals feeding on it:







This plant is quite a distance from the one I photographed yesterday so I assume these are a different collection of Red Admirals. They seem to have a had a really good breeding season after several years when they were fairly scarce round here.

Admirals Galore

Gathering round one large growth of Ivy yesterday were over twenty Red Admiral butterflies:

Last Flutters Before Winter

While the Sun was beaming down on the Ivy there was a sudden rush of insect visitors. Bees, wasps, a whole variety of flies and several pristine looking Red Admirals:



Also spotted was the occasional Comma:



Apart from Cabbage Whites which have been seen in abundance for months I have rarely seen a butterfly all Summer. The same went for Bumble Bees. I have seen far fewer this year. I did read a short while ago of one possible reason. Apparently there are fewer bees, wasps and some other insects this year as last Winter was too mild for them. Yes, too mild. They need cold enough temperatures during the Winter months to force them into hibernation otherwise they use too much energy whilst awake with few or no food plants to provide nourishment.

When is it Butterfly Time?

When it's butterfly o'clock:





Bet you didn't know Red Admirals could tell the time!

Basking in the Sunshine

First - Tricia Ryder's comment yesterday got me thinking about the mystery bird table visitor. She thought it looked like a Dunnock. Well it certainly isn't a mature one. I have several as daily visitors but a Google search for some Dunnock Juvenile photos showed several which almost matched my visitor - pale belly with bold black streaks. In fact when I search I find I had photographed a juvenile Dunnock a couple of years ago.  So it looks as though that is favourite. Whatever it is it has visited several times every day so far. Also visiting the bird table have been two juvenile Robins.

Today has been a scorcher. Cool with heavy rain and hail yesterday morning.
Many creatures have taken advantage of blue skies and temperatures up to 25C:

The Damsel flies have started emerging from my garden pond.
Here a male Blue Tailed Damselfly sunning itself on a rose bush:



and a female on a pond plant:



A Red Admiral taking a short rest:



A Dunnock looking quite bedraggled but actually having a quick sunning session:



On the cricket field a Crow which didn't really want to move out of the way, until we got too close for comfort.:



I say sunning themselves but maybe the birds were actually trying to cool down.

Friday at the Flicks - November Admiral

Last Tuesday when the sky was clear and the Sun shining brightly I was almost caught unawares when a Red Admiral flew in and settled on an old planter near the bottom of the garden. Considering that night temperature had been below 2C and even in the Sun it was only 6C with a very cold breeze the last thing I expected to see was a butterfly.

Even with a 400mm zoom lens this is all I could see with the 70D:


A small crop from the above photo:


It stayed long enough to get a bit of video, same 400mm zoom with 3x digital zoom in the camera:



Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.
You never know what will turn up.

Friday at the Flicks - Red Admiral Feeding on Ivy

Some weeks, like last week, there is plenty to video. Others there is nothing until the last minute, like this week. Until midday yesterday I had no new video clips when I spotted a Red Admiral butterfly on some Ivy near the bottom of the garden. I needed a camcorder with a powerful zoom so I dug out the Panasonic with its 70x optical zoom and, even though it hadn't been used for nearly a year, found the battery was still fully charged. I started filming trough the kitchen window and then gradually moved closer. Fortunately the flutter stayed for quite a long while. The only problem with the 70x zoom is some purple colour fringing round high contrast areas otherwise it does a decent job. The camera was tripod mounted so movement is the result of a breezy day.



I missed another opportunity to snap the Grey Heron this morning. Spotted it cautiously making its way to the garden pond but it noticed me and when I got it nicely framed as it took off - the camera refused to take the shot! Such are the frustrations of nature photography.

Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you wherever you are.