Painted Lady Butterfly - Cynthia cardui

This summer visitor from North Africa arrives in spring and can be seen on the wing until October.

Very fond of thistles and mallows, painted lady butterflies are also attarcted to garden buddleias, including of course the vast acreages of buddleias that have colonised railway embankments.

At first glance, this species could easilybe mistaken for a tortoiseshell butterfly, but the round black dots near the rear edge of the forewings are a very obvious distinguishing feature.

Studying butterflies and moths...

Butterflies index page...

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