Painted Lady

Vanessa cardui

Vanessa cardui is the most widespread of all butterfly species. It is commonly called the painted lady, or formerly in North America the cosmopolitan butterfly. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this insect was recorded 764 times across 44 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

See the Painted Lady on the live map

Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 16°C (typically 12 to 20°C, from 11 areas).

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in Europe ranged from 43°N in April to 57°N in August, about 1,600 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

Download every area as CSV

Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.