Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) underside
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) underside by Lynne Kirton as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) underside
Image: © Lynne Kirton Taken: 21 Jul 2006
One of Britain's largest & most vividly marked butterflies, the Red Admiral arrives from late May onwards, spreading throughout the British Isles including the larger islands. The underside of the forewing is a duller version of the upperside and generally quite conspicuous, although when roosting it is pulled down between the underwings so that only the dark tip is visible. The butterfly is then camouflaged to resemble tree bark. The Red Admiral is unable to tolerate British winters and there is some evidence of a return migration to the Continent. However, many, probably most, try to hibernate and almost invariably perish.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
52.988072
Longitude
-1.219387