Painted lady butterfly's arrival coincides with warmer weather

P.D., Windermere.

This is a painted lady, one of the first native butterflies to appear each year. They have already been reported at a few places locally, a week or two earlier than some years. Their first appearance usually coincides with milder, sunny weather in the second half of August.

Their numbers sometimes increase here with the north winds of early spring. Painted lady caterpillars feed readily on capeweed, so they do a valuable service in reducing this introduced daisy.

Another early native is the admiral (or yellow admiral).

The introduced cabbage white butterfly hasn’t been reported close to Ballarat so far this year, but both it and the admiral will probably be seen within a week.