Red Admiral Butterfly
Description: The Red Admiral is a brightly coloured butterfly with red bands and white spots on a black wing.
Size: The wingspan of the Red Admiral is approximately 60-70mm.
Habitat: The Red Admiral lives in gardens, hedgerows, orchards, woodlands and meadows.
Food: They eat nectar, fermenting fruit such as apples, plums and pears, brambles, buddleia and nettles.
Distribution: The Red Admiral can be found throughout the UK.
Months Seen: This butterfly can be seen between May and October.
Did You Know?
- Females lay one egg at a time leaving up to a dozen under nettle leaves.
- Red Admiral butterflies migrate from Southern Europe and Northern Africa.
- The Red Admiral caterpillar is yellowish brown to black with a row of yellow spots on each side. It has short black spines and has white speckles on it.
- Red Admirals will migrate South in the summer.
- These butterflies can spend Winter as sleeping adults but in order to survive they need a warmer climate.
We have oodles of these all summer long. Next to the Cabbage White, I’d say they’re the most common here where I live.
Comment by Kylee — August 5, 2007 @ 7:59 pm
Hi Kylee,
How lucky to have lots of these beautiful butterflies in your garden.
Thanks for visiting and commenting.
Sara @ farmingfriends
Comment by Sara @ Farming Friends — August 5, 2007 @ 8:02 pm