| Leamington Spa, U.K. | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) (written 21 August 2019) |
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| Leamington Spa, U.K. | (donherbisonevans@yahoo.com) (written 21 August 2019) |
This August morning, about 7am when the outside temperature was about 12 C, a Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui) fluttered down from up in our Birch tree onto the lawn and started flapping violently about.
I went out and caught it and transferred it to a Buddleia flower, but it fell off onto the ground and started flapping violently again.
Then I observed that it was being chased by a wasp (Vespula vulgaris). The butterfly kept flapping and the wasp kept trying, unsuccessfully, to land on it. After several minutes, the butterfly had apparently finally warmed up its muscles sufficiently, and it took off and flew away over the fence. Then the wasp flew away as well, but sadly I could not see if it was still chasing the butterfly.
 butterflies |  Lepidoptera |  moths |