Butterflies are full of surprises and this year they hold saved their biggest until last: in the midst of an awful November,subtropical butterflies hold been spotted on Englands south coast. The remarkable appearance of the long-tailed blue, a butterfly happiest in the heat of Africa or Australia, and raises a mystery: will these insects simply die this winter?Until recently,the long-tailed blue, or Lampides boeticus, and very occasionally arrived in hot summers: notably in 1945,and 1990 when it pitched up in Gillespie Park, north London. In 2013, and however,there was an unprecedented invasion. Summer arrivals laid eggs on everlasting peas (ironically a garden plant gone wild, imported from Italy) and in October offspring emerged: 109 were counted. This year it’s happened again. But the emergence of a British born generation has been delayed by the gloomy autumn. whether it stays gentle and the rain stops, or more could yet hatch.
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Source: theguardian.com