Red Admiral
(Vanessa atalanta)

The admirable Red Admiral ist another handsome butterfly which is easy to identify because of its distinctive pattern. It belongs to the group of migrating butterflies. This means it's unable to survive the winters here and therefore migrates every year to and from southern Europe where winters are milder. The first Red Admirals reach us in late spring, lay their eggs on stingy nettle and then die. The new generation grows up here and hatches in autumn. In October these butterflies will attempt to cross the alps back to the south but many leave it too late and don't make it. The following spring a new generation reaches us from the south. Pretty astonishing that such a frail looking butterfly should be able to cross the mighty alps, don't you think? 

On the underside of the wings there are even some blue markings

The caterpillars of the Red Admiral feed as mentioned on the butterfly-superplant stingy nettle. Their colour varies from almost black to light brown and they possess the thorns typical for stingy nettle feeders along their bodies. Unlike the caterpillars of the Peacock or Small Tortoiseshell the caterpillars of the Red Admiral are never found in groups because the female butterfly places its eggs singly. You'll also never find a Red Admiral caterpillar just sitting on top of a leaf, instead they sow themselves proper little cubicles out of stingy nettle leaves. There are at least two other types of caterpillar who live in sown-up chambers of stingy nettle leaves but they can be easily distinguished from Red Admiral houses: The Red Admiral caterpillar sows its chamber neatly along the edges of a leaf, making it look a bit like zipped up. The other types (which turn into little moths) just sow their abodes together any old how. The Red Admiral caterpillar would appear to have a sense for neatness! ;))) 

Left and right a dark coloured caterpillar, in the center a lighter one

The goldflecked hanging pupae of the Red Admiral are also found in sown together chambers of stingy nettle leaves:

One sees the butterfly more often in autumn than spring. It likes to drink nectar from buddleia bushes but also likes to feed from rotting fruit (e.g. plums).

Here a Red Admiral is taking in mineral salts from the ground

Looks also terrific from the front, doesn't it?

"Aster novii belgii" is also a favourite 
among Red Admirals in autumn

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