Country diary: It’s a painted lady summer, the stuff of lepidopterists’ legend

Automatisch samengesteld met AI uit de vermelde bronnen

Mid-April sightings in Wales and Cumbria, and a mid-May first encounter in Weardale, preceded the numerous painted lady butterflies observed by the diarist in Weardale in mid-June. The personal account records a multi-site timeline for the current influx, with individuals already showing worn wings from long-distance travel, and recalls comparable mass-migration summers in 1996 and 2009. It aligns with Butterfly Conservation’s 5 June report of the largest arrival in Britain for 17 years.