Other Common Names
Blue-spotted Painted Lady

This species seems to be all over the place, but I never see them in numbers, just the odd one here or there. This species is very similar to Vanessa cardui, which which I was familiar in my youth when I collected butterflies in England. The most obvious difference is the fact that the spots on the upperside of the hind wing have blue centres in V. kershawi. I think it is generally smaller than V. cardui as well.

In September 2004 these butterflies were very common, both in urban areas like North Sydney and in bushland like the Ingleburn Reserve. I found them to be much harder to approach than those that had been flying the previous autumn, so although there have been large numbers of them about I haven't had much luck getting photos of them.

Sightings
Ingleburn - March, April, September, October 2004
Royal Botanical Gardens, Sydney - April, December 2004.
North Sydney - September, October 2004