On Monday (
25th January) I made my, now annual, visit to the 'Butterflies in the Glasshouse' event in The RHS garden at Wisley. My impression is that this event improves year on year, with a good range of species flying freely in an environment within which they seem to behave quite naturally.
This time, I went with the experience of having seen some of these butterflies in their home environment. It was, therefore, an opportunity to catch up with some of the species I had seen in Borneo and to see them alongside a range of their 'New World' cousins. The latter group seemed to be in the majority, led by the spectacular Blue Morphos, which seemed to be particularly active, with much courtship activity and groups of, sometimes 4 or 5, chasing each other around the glasshouse!
![Morpho_peleides.jpg (114.71 KiB) Viewed 1038 times Morpho peleides, RHS Wisley - 25th January 2016<br />Olympus E-M1 with 40-150mm lens - 1/250s@f/5.6 ISO400 (with flash)](./files/thumb_11310_44311e780dd3cc719590efa1b87ea81a)
- Morpho peleides, RHS Wisley - 25th January 2016
Olympus E-M1 with 40-150mm lens - 1/250s@f/5.6 ISO400 (with flash)
It was also my first time in the field with my Olympus E-M1 camera (I had used the E-M5 model in Borneo) The results have given me considerable confidence in the capabilities of this camera, which provides DSLR-like image quality from small, lightweight equipment. Most of the time, I used the 40-150mm lens, which had proved very capable in Borneo, but I also tried my new 60mm macro lens for the first time.
The following two sets of photos show a selection of the species that I photographed. As in previous years, I found that the 'Spotter Guide' provided was far from complete and also has several typos in the species names. I've managed to put names to most of the photos but, as usual, welcome corrections and additions!
![Wisley2016-1.jpg (149.63 KiB) Viewed 1038 times Click on group to enlarge](./files/thumb_11310_a5f9750a15cdb9fe80ad99a3394215df)
- Click on group to enlarge
![Wisley2016-2.jpg (168.57 KiB) Viewed 987 times Click on group to enlarge](./files/thumb_11310_1802776f12df9b8a20684892ea20470d)
- Click on group to enlarge
One rather spectacular species that I had not seen at Wisley before was the 'Automedon Giant Owl', with remarkable patterns on the undersides of the wings.
![Eryphanis_automedon.jpg (143.15 KiB) Viewed 1038 times Eryphanis automedon, RHS Wisley - 25th January 2016<br />Olympus E-M1 with 40-150mm lens - 1/200s@f/5.6](./files/thumb_11310_de1f5919b91db8fb2142d6da1e9b9615)
- Eryphanis automedon, RHS Wisley - 25th January 2016
Olympus E-M1 with 40-150mm lens - 1/200s@f/5.6
Finally, I used my macro lens to take some close-up views of one of the 'Pale Owls' feeding at one of the sugar stations. Conditions were far from ideal for macro photography and this shot was hand held, while amongst several other visitors. I particularly like the detail of the tiny claws on the ends of the legs!
![Caligo_memnon.jpg (183.61 KiB) Viewed 1038 times Caligo memnon, RHS Wisley - 25th January 2016<br />Olympus E-M1 with 60mm macro lens - 1/125s@f/8 (with flash)](./files/thumb_11310_a31cbc14db2e0e49539d56bd9b40440f)
- Caligo memnon, RHS Wisley - 25th January 2016
Olympus E-M1 with 60mm macro lens - 1/125s@f/8 (with flash)
I rather enjoyed my brief return to the heat and humidity of the tropics.
EDIT with additions/corrections by Guy Padfield
Mike