They're coming !

[Guy Van de Poel & A. Kalus]

It's been raining the last couple of (probably only days but seems like)
months here in Germany. I was getting depressed by the weather, so made a
quick travel to Italy, Tuscany (hope that's the correct translation for
Toscana region), vicinity of Livorno to get some sun and butterflies.
Over there I've seen two (exact number - they were not the same specimens)
Vanessa cardui. The one I could get a better look at, she/he looked totally
exhausted, was quite battered with a lot of the scales lost and the outer
margins of the wings damaged. The weather will get even worse the next
couple of days, hope they survive so that their offspring makes it over
here.
Also saw a V. atalanta, rather fresh-looking, but that should be rather
normal as the species overwinters around the Mediterranean.

Guy.

Guy Van de Poel
Guy_VdP at t-online.de

Royal Entomological Society of Antwerp
http://www.freeyellow.com/members/fransjanssens/index.html



 
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