Photo by John Atkinson

Red Admiral Butterfly

Quick Facts

Common name: Red Admiral.
Scientific name: Vanessa Atalanta
Wingspan: 67 -72mm

Colour:  Dark black-brown wings, each with an orange-red band. The fore-wing tips are black with white spots; the underside is orange, blue and white, while the hind-wings are camouflaged dark brown.

Lifespan: 10 Months

Origin: Native

Information

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• What they eat: Adults drink nectar from flowers: buddleia is a favourite. Feeds on rotting fruit in autumn. Caterpillars eat stinging nettles.

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• During the summer females lay single eggs on the growing tips of nettles. After a week or so, the caterpillars hatch and each spins a tent around itself by fastening a young leaf double with silk. Four weeks later caterpillars pupate in a similar ‘tent’.

• Adults may hibernate in England, usually choosing an exposed site such as a tree trunk, and many perish. Adults and caterpillars can be seen between May and October.

• Caterpillars are bristly and dark with a pale yellow stripe running down each side.