Butterflies are good bellwethers for our increasingly weird climate and its impact on insect life because they are so visible. Autumn last year brought the first sighting of an American painted lady in Cornwall since 1876. And this autumn there were almost certainly the first British-born American painted ladies, after this extremely rare migrant set up home on the Isles of Scilly.
The butterfly is native to the US, and other US natives have been blown across the Atlantic this warm, windy autumn, including the green darner dragonfly. The American painted lady is also resident on the Canary Islands, and this is the likely source of most British individuals.
