What's in a name, The Camberwell Beauty.

[nomad]

Scientific names are of course essential, but I hope I am not alone in not always correctly pronouncing them. In England that lovely butterfly Nymphalis antiopa is a rare migrant from Scandinavia and is also known as the Camberwell Beauty. Moses Harris in his book, the Aurelian of 1766 named this butterfly ' the Grand Surprise ' or the Camberwell Beauty from two specimens captured in Camberwell in South London in 1748, which was then a county parish. This butterfly was again caught at Camberwell and there is a specimen in the J. C. Dale collection at Oxford from 1793 from that locality which was figured in the famous E.B. Ford book ' Butterflies ' in the New Naturalist series which was first published in 1945. Today any countryside at Camberwell has long since vanished and it is not a place to go to look for butterflies.
In America this species has the more somber name of the ' Mourning Cloak '. In Germany the butterfly is known as the ' Trauermantel ' , in Sweden it is the ' Sorgmantel', in Norway the ' Sorgekpen ' which all translate in English as the ' Mourning Cloak '. It seems clear that the name came to America from Scandinavian or German settlers who were familiar with this butterfly.



A very historic specimen of Nymphalis antiopa caught at Camberwell in 1793.

[Deleted]

This is my only British example of antiopa, taken in one of the last great Camberwell beauty years of 1976 in Sussex.

[suzuki]

One of my favourite butterflies and lovely to see in the wild often settled on the warm ground.

[Deleted]

not a sight that we are likely to see in the UK as antiopa is a very rare migrant to our shores, hence the excitement it arouses when one is seen. This is another one of my specimens without the blue spots.

[nomad]

The best year for this species in the U.K. was in 1995 when 500 were recorded and in 2006 the tally was 273 but in both those years many naturalists were on the for alert for butterflies because they were surveying Britain for Atlases. Most but not all are seen in the East of England, having come from Scandinavia. Nice specimens dunc, here is one from your neck of the woods from the early 19th century in the Dale collection. I have yet to see this species in the U.K. perhaps one day! 

[wollastoni]

I have seen only 3 in France in my whole life... but 2 of them in 2013 (one in Fontainebleau forest near Paris, one at the bottom of the Mont Blanc in Haute Savoie.

[suzuki]

There were a lot flying in Serbia at the beginning of July.

[wollastoni]

Yes I heard it is a common species in North America and Eastern Europe ... but scarce in North France.

[bobw]

I've seen it in huge numbers in the south of France, near Saint Raphael.

Bob

[papilio28570]

Best chance of seeing this butterfly anywhere is on the first warm days right at the break of winter along a woodland road with dappled sunlight and willows growing in the general area. The butterfly hibernates through the winter and comes out on the first warmish days to bask in the sunlight and sip mineralized moisture from damp soil, soggy logs & wet leaf litter. They will suddenly fly up when you get about 3 meters distance. They will return in a few minutes but are extremely wary. I haven't seen them on dung or around mud puddles. Slightly later in spring, they can also be seen nectaring on flowers of early blooming pear trees in bright sunlight....but that is hit or miss most years. I very seldom see them at other times of the year here in coastal North Carolina.

[evra]

The larvae can be super conspicuous as well. I'll walk along a stream in the spring where willows are growing and the last instar larvae just trash the plant. There will be webs and shed skins all over the place. The females lay masses of about 200 ova, so if predation isn't bad, the willows really can get stripped. Fortunately they put forth new growth throughout the season. It's not like Limenitis, which are much harder to find.

[lepidofrance]

"Yes I heard it is a common species in North America and Eastern Europe ... but scarce in North France."

If it's not a very common species in France, I know several locations where the butterfly is rather common. For example, the slopes of the Aubrac mountain in Lozère (not far from Saint-Chély-d'Apcher)and forest around Roquebrune-sur-Argens (Var). After winter, the butterfly appears on paths or tree trunk in sunny areas (April, May).

Here a sample from the Ubaye Valley in the Alps (poor photos made with the cellular phone).

[nomad]

Although a very rare migrant to the British Isles , not seen some years, there must be a good reason why Nymphalis antiopa cannot establish itself here. It is certainly seems cold enough up in the north of England and in Scotland. Although there is a abundance of the foodplant,there is no authenticated records of breeding here by this species. Any suggestions.

[nomad]

Talking to a lepidopterist friend today, he suggested our climate was too wet and warm in the winter for this stunning butterfly.

[wolf]

From spring 2011. They are pretty common in my area. I wanted to rear them, and managed to get a female full of eggs that same spring, but she died after some days without laying any eggs Will have to try again in the future!