This incredible insect is Europe’s largest butterfly. It is familiar to most people and is well known for its annual mass migrations across North America. In Europe it undertakes no such migrations and is more sedentary, although it does frequently wander and new temporary colonies are sometimes formed in favourable years along the Mediterranean coast. It has only established itself in the European mainland over the last few decades (having spread north from the Canaries) and can now be seen in areas where its foodplant Milkweed grows in the Andalusia region of Spain for example, which is where I have seen it.
Distribution: Resident in Andalusia in southern Spain. Occasionally seen elsewhere in Spain, S and W Portugal, S France and some of the western Mediterranean islands such as Corsica.
Flight Period: Can be seen throughout the year, but numbers peak in the autumn.
Habitat: Parks and gardens where the foodplants is grown for ornamental purposes. Also brownfield sites and scrubby coastal areas close to cultivation, usually below 100m.
Foodplants: Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica)
Nectar Sources: Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica), Lantana, valerians (Centranthus) and others.
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- Monarch, Maro area, Spain, July 2020
