First holly blue seen yesterday on bay tree outside my office in Ryde Isle of Wight.

Great to share the discovery with others.

Still there today. Photos attached- not great quality as it was high up on an ash sapling and against the light.

Very unlikely to be from Butterfly World in Wootton as they specialise in more exotic butterflies.

It is about 4-5 miles from Ryde where the ferry comes in but if it is sunny there is a great chance of seeing the LTs. You can catch a bus to Palmers Road Wootton and then there is a walk of about a mile.

Having visited Woodhouse Copse over each of the past three days, and seen no sign of the LTs, I was pleased to hear from John Rowell who first saw the LT ten days ago that he had seen two separate ones today, just after I had left the site! If the weather stays bright and sunny it would be worth pay...

I wasn't aware my photos would cause such interest! I have examined the two different photos from Sunday and Wednesday and they are clearly two different butterflies albeit very similar. I haven't checked the photo I took on Saturday which was much more distant. Possibly three?!!

Seen today at the same site.

Seen again today and better photo to come later. Watch this space!!

Photo from today at the same site.

Underside.

Seen in Woodhouse Copse Wootton Isle of Wight today by John Rowell and Ian Pratt.

Now is the time to be thinking of next year's holiday and I wondered if any members are planning a trip to Europe where guests are required?

Why not have all entries submitted anonymously so that nobody knows whose photo they are voting for with an automatic ban on voting for your own photo? I must admit being bemused by some voting this month as to those that people have rated as worth a vote and those that have been left with no votes....

Many thanks.

This is a twin head macro flash and could be good for butterfly photography. Has anyone got one and can they recommend it?
I have a Sigma 150 F2.8 macro - will it fit this or will I need an adapter? Hope someone out there can help.

Thanks for making me laugh!

Thanks for all the comments on my original post. However, there is one point I would like to raise.There seems to be an assumption that a good record/identification shot is very easy to take now with digital cameras. I do not necessarily agree with that as it is stil very difficult to get an open ph...

I have been interested to see the photos that have done well in monthly competitions and it is clear that good sharp identification shots normally don't do well in the votes. Almost all the photos are of a very high quality but those of a more "arty " style tend to do well. Should that be ...

I believe bird watchers have a competition each year on 1 January to see the most species in a day. Last Saturday Paul Millward and I visited 3 sites on the IOW: Shalcombe Down, Walters Copse and the fields opposite my house in Branstone. We saw 24 species in about 4 hours! Large, small, green-veine...