Pic 1 – 5: September was a good month for Red Admirals feasting on Ivy. During Autumn, when nectar and pollen sources dwindled, the ivy provided a much welcome source of food for many insects; such as the common wasp, late-season butterflies (Red Admirals) hoverflies, bumble bees and the ivy bee (a bee that specialises in ivy).

Hibernating Red Admirals – A myth?

According to Thomas (2010) and again in his latest reprint of ‘The Butterlies of Britain and Ireland’ (2004) – Red Admirals do not hibernate i,e they don’t enter a long dormant stage as Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell and others do. They seem to simply roost on inclement days and fly around and get on with life in winter days when the weather is better. However, as global warming begins to have an effect on our wildlife, it appears that our butterflies are also responding to increases in average winter temperatures (Garden Birdwatcher’s Report, “Red Admiral Resurgence in Gardens 21 Oct 2014).

During recent winters several species, namely the Red Admiral have been regularly reported on sunny mid winter days even at temperatures of less than 10 degrees celsius. Such recorded observations of Red Admiral winter behaviour indicate that under the right conditions, the Red Admiral can successfully reproduce here in the UK all year round and are now once again resident in Britain and Ireland (Fox and Denis 2010).

My assumption that the Red Admiral was coming out of hibernation may have been erroneous. Reading Jeremy Thomas’ excellent, ‘Butterlies of Britain and Ireland’ he comments that, ‘although a few Red Admirals may seem to hibernate in the British Isles during mild winters, they generally settle in exposed places, such as on tree-trunks or under branches, and usually perish. It is likely that these are late-emerging adults that became trapped after the sudden onset of conditions too cold for flight. The few adults that are seen on sunny days from December to February are believed to result from late caterpillars that were able to develop in warm spots.’ So it would seem that the Red Admiral is a migratory butterfly that doesn’t hibernate like the Peacock, Tortoishell or Comma.

It was freezing cold today so I wasn’t expecting to find any insects, let alone butterflies. However, being the eternal optimist I armed myself with my 100mm macro and set out to my local wood at Porthkerry Park in the Vale  of  Glamorgan.  I couldn’t believe my  luck when I came across a Red Admiral. It’s not particularly unusual for Red Admirals, Tortoiseshells or Commas to come out of hibernation during a sunny winters day but I must admit that this is the earliest date that  I’ve managed to capture one!  A good  sign of an early Spring perhaps and a fruitful year being had chasing butterflies, here, there and everywhere!  In his book, ‘The Butterfly Isles’, Patrick Barkham set out to see all of Britain’s 59 species of butterflies in a single year (2009).  His first sighting was of a Small Tortoiseshell, in Sheringham, Norfolk on 15th March. This  conforms pretty much to my first  sighting of last year, which also happened to be of a Small Tortoiseshell on 9th March.  So as you  can imagine I’m pretty chuffed  to be one  month  ahead  of the game by capturing this Red Admiral  on the 8th February.

Butterfly Conservation – Red Admiral