The Red Admiral

 During the first week of November, the only species of butterfly I found on the wing on Pevensey Levels was the Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta).

The Red Admiral is primarily a migrant to Britain but for the last couple of decades or so, our warming climate has enabled this species to successfully over-winter.

 It is a continually breeding species and does not undergo true hibernation. All it requires to survive our winter is the availability of safe roosts and a ready source of nectar.

I have often seen atalanta on the wing during mild and sunny winter days on heathland, where there is plenty of dead bracken for roosting and there is always gorse in flower for nectar.

On the 5th. November, on Pevensey Levels, it was no surprise to me to watch at least two female Red Admirals laying eggs on fresh nettle growth, in a sunny corner.

Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) 

(Basking on a fence post)

(Ovipositing female on nettle. The ovum is just visible below the tip of her abdomen)

(Ovum on the outer-upper edge of a nettle leaf)