Butterfly beauty

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beautiful red admiral butterfly

blurry red admiral – must upgrade my phone!

A rubbish photo of a gorgeous butterfly!

The Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) is one of the UK’s most colourful and easily recognised butterflies.  It has very distinctive wing markings – brown, red, and black with orange bands and white spots. 

A bit like how the robin-red-breast is especially noticeable in winter because of its cheery colour in drab times and because it is one of the few species to stick around in the colder months, so the Red Admiral is often seen on sunny days in autumn and winter as it is one of the last butterfly species to be out and about before cold weather sets in. It hibernates, but also can also migrate to find warmer climes.

red admiral butterfly

better photo showing the colourful wing pattern

We found this one sunning itself on a bush on a chilly October morning.  Our photo (taken on a old-fashioned Nokia) doesn’t do it justice so here’s another one to show you what it really looked like.

You can help encourage these beauties into your garden by growing Buddleia bushes and by leaving overripe fruit out on a sunny birdtable.

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