PAINTED LADY

It is too cold for this butterfly in Britain and Lundy during the winter, so it over winters in North Africa. 

It joins us May/June after flying between 2000 and 2500 miles. No wonder some of the painted lady's look a little worse for wear when they arrive.

The caterpillars feed on a variety of plants, but the adult butterflies liked the flowering mint in my garden. The new generation of adult butterflies fly back to Africa at the end of Summer.

A mainly orange butterfly with black wingtips, black spots on the orange and white spots on the black. Both sexes are similar in appearance and have an overall wingspan of 60mm.