Invasion of the Painted Ladies!

During the last few days, here in North Devon, we have had the privilege of witnessing a rare and spectacular phenomenon -

the arrival of hundreds of these colourful fast flying butterflies crossing our shoreline after an amazing 1000 mile migration from North Africa.

As they energetically refueled on the swathes of crimson valerian currently decking our roadside walls and banks it was difficult to comprehend how such beautiful and fragile creatures could endure such a long and arduous journey across the ocean.


Apparently scientists have been predicting an unusually large migration since late winter.

The butterflies originate from the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, where heavy winter rains allowed good germination of the caterpillar food-plants.

Although the majority of the butterflies arrived unscathed after their long journey we noticed that quite a few had suffered minor damage to their wings as seen here - but they made it!