Get set for a painted lady summer: big year for orange butterflies in Britain

If you’ve spotted a pale orange butterfly dashing at frenetic pace through streets, fields or gardens, you’ve noticed the new migrants that will add colour to the summer in record-breaking numbers.What is expected to be the largest arrival of painted lady butterflies in Britain for 17 years is under way after heatwaves and favourable winds ushered thousands if not millions of the insects northwards.The painted lady flies north from Sub-Saharan Africa at the start of every year. Successive generations breed in North Africa and then the southern Mediterranean before reaching northern Europe later in the summer. In September, the offspring of these migrants fly south again.In some summers, hardly any reach British shores, but Butterfly Conservation experts said a combination of favourable early spring conditions in southern Europe, the recent heatwave and benign southerly winds had turned 2026 into a once-in-a-decade “painted lady summer”.“We’ve been seeing small numbers for the last three weeks but it looks like there’s been a big recent immigration from Europe over the past week, just as the hot spell collapsed,” said Dan Hoare, the director of nature recovery for Butterfly Conservation. “They grow extremely fast, feed easily and fly really well, and they’ve bred successfully in France and Spain in the heatwave and then had favourable winds to get them across the Channel.”Some arrivals are faded grey ‘grandparent’ butterflies while others are brighter orange short-haul travellers. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty ImagesPainted ladies can develop from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis and emerge as an adult butterfly in as little as four to six weeks in warm weather, and so bumper generations can swiftly emerge.The butterflies have this week been seen in large numbers along the east coast into northern England. At Hickling national nature reserve close to the Norfolk coast, 253 of the butterflies were spotted feeding on a patch of bramble flowers.Many are faded grey “grandparent” butterflies who may have travelled directly from North Africa or southern Spain, while others are brighter orange short-haul travellers, the French-born offspring of the March and April arrivals into southern Europe.The heatwave and southerly winds have also assisted an extremely rare moth, the eastern bordered straw, which has been found in moth traps across southern England. Striped hawkmoths are another rare and unusual arrival to look out for.Look out too for striped hawkmoths, a rare and unusual arrival. Photograph: Ruth Swan/AlamyThe painted ladies delight gardeners and farmers because their caterpillars devour a wide range of thistles.In five or six weeks, a large British-born generation of painted ladies is likely to emerge – just in time for the world’s largest citizen science insect count, which is undertaken by 100,000 volunteers every July.“It feels like a real butterfly summer, and this big immigration could give us an even bigger brood in time for the Big Butterfly Count,” Hoare said.The painted lady’s arrival en masse may prompt a late surge of voting in Butterfly Conservation’s poll to find Britain’s favourite butterfly. The painted lady could yet challenge the peacock butterfly for first place.“If the painted lady is your favourite, make sure you cast your vote,” Hoare said.