AI decided to submit a late entry. No PhotoShopping - honest

Jack

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czddd407eezo

Scroll down to No.7.

Call me a cynic if you like. But.....

Jack

24 June. My first Ringlets of the year up here near Nairn, north Scotland. Some 75 years ago in south England they were July - lingering into August - butterflies. Of course, global warming has been very significant but I don't think we should discount the less-polluted air these days as a factor be...

22nd June.  Large White - by no means common up here (I only see two or three a year) - spotted by my wife in the garden, who called me to look.  She is not a butterfly 'nut' but had correctly identified it.  Moreover, it was on Sage flowers, a plant that I had wanted to cut down (to encourage fresh...

I said in another post how seven of my Orange Tip pupae (from 2023 eggs) decided that 2024 isn't for them and seem to be hanging on until 2025. I had previous occasions of double hibernation with eventual emergence almost two years after being laid as eggs. Others from 2023 emerged as normal this sp...

I did a PhotoShop fiddle with the image to make the butterfly a little darker. That confirmed Common Blue, but certainly is a pale specimen.

But of course a pale subject like that butterfly against a much darker background plays hell with auto exposure.

Jack

Captive Orange Tips Eggs or caterpillars from my garden Sweet Rocket (aka Dame's Violet) in 2023. 33 caterpillars of which five failed to pupate. They were then kept in a plastic container. Over the winter, five simply vanished. Others clearly died and went mouldy Spring 2024, eight adults emerged a...

Specualation.  See my previous entry in this thread. https://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=11894 Black Hairstreaks are seemingly well established in Ditchling and Epsom Commons.  Presumably these are the result of introductions (Peter Cribb?). Glapthorn Cow Pasture near Oundle, North...

Escape artist.

Orange Tip pupa on a lead to my computer monitor.

It hadn't been a very long crawl (under a metre) from the pots of Hedge Garlic and Dame's Violet on the window sill.
But I had missed it when it was a caterpillar.

Jack

I have just been reading about Relativity and Time Dilation.  Also, something today on a science website about Quantum time shifts  - very much over my head. But I thought that I might have begun to get a grasp of some of these weird concepts when I saw the thread 'June 2024' - posted on 31st May :i...

28th May. Up here, male Orange Tips still flying - very late by modern standards.

Jack

Old man's butterflying .  27th May Like many mature people, I often have a siesta.  I woke at 2.30 pm to watch an Orange Tip egg laying on the Sweet Rocket (aka Dame's Violet) just outside the bedroom.  It's not a fluke that the plants are growing there, but I had never quite expected this sort of ...

Thanks BertI. But I doubt I could manage Cambus o May due to my limited mobility these days. But it's nice to know that PBFs are still in Deeside. A spot for PBF I was told about iss Morrone Birkwood just to the west of Braemar. Let me know if when you plan a visit again to Logie Steading. I was the...

Splendid PBF photos BertI that make me feel quite nostalgic. In the 1980s when I lived in Banchory, I would find PBFs to the west of Potarch Bridge on the Dee.  But a search about seven years ago drew a blank.  I believe that further up the valley above Braemar is more reliable these days but can't ...

I've had a brief look through you photos James. I really like the style. I'll return for a more detailed look later.

Jack

It's official. It must be. 'The Star' 18th May says so.

Jack

I was in the exact spot I saw my first Scottish Comma three years ago.  In luck today, 17 May. I got the camera out of it bag - flat battery.  Changed the battery and managed just this poor shot before it flew off out of sight. I had been despairing that this new colonist hadn't 'taken'.  But all se...

Five more home reared flew off today. I went out to collect more eggs for next year's adults.  In fact, I cut off stems of Hedge Garlic which is growing in profusion this year.  I haven't checked for eggs on these, but they are now in shady spots around the garden in jars.  Plenty of Orange Tips thr...

Bugboy did awkwardly find a pair in-cop Matthew Oates in one of his splendid books has a similar tale. Apparently it was the highlight of the tour for some Americans he was leading. In the 60s when I was gliding from RAF Benson, nearby Watlington Hill apparently gave several sightings by the pilots....

"Pink Hairstreaks"

Action from moderators needed here. That is a blatantly racist comment.
I am sure that among the ramblers there will be - to use the modern PC terminology - some "Hairstreaks of Colour".

Jack