Orange Tip Eggs/early stages

[Dave McCormick]

Just been out and got these Orange Tip egg shots (cuckoo flowers were blowing so it was a bit tricky.) Never seen a pupae of OT yet, but will keep going back here occationally to see what progress has been made.

Caterpillar almost ready to emerge from egg:

f/2.8
1/500sec exposure
ISO-400
Focal length = 8mm
Exposure = 0 step
No Flash




I have a few more pics I will post later

[Dave McCormick]

OT Caterpillar in my garden (there was two, one died )



f/11
Exposure = 1/200sec
ISO-200
Exposure Bias = -2 step
Focal Legnth= 105mm
Handheld
Flash

[Dave McCormick]

Here is one I found. This is its head up colse:



f/16
Exposure = 1/45sec
ISO-200
Exposure Bias = -2 step
Focal Legnth= 105mm
Metering Mode = Pattern
Handheld
Flash

[Patrick]

Hi Dave,

Our back garden runs down to a brook where there is plenty of Cuckoo Flower and earlier this year I noticed an Orange Tip egg on one of the plants. As this was right on the edge of an undercut bank and in danger of collapse I transplanted the plant and egg to a flower pot and took it indoors to photograph so no problem with movement in the wind. The attached shows the development of the larva over a couple of weeks to pupation. I had placed a couple of green sticks in the pot to support the plant and of course the larva chose one of these on which to pupate

Hope you managed to find your own pupa.

All images had flash (all or fill-in) and were taken with the Panasonic Lumix FZ 50 using the Panasonic or Raynox close-up lenses. (I could/should have taken a bit more care with lighting/backgrounds on some

[Dave McCormick]

Cool pics patrick! I love the ones with the aphids in them, very detailed. I should be able to find a pupae, have not previous years though.

[Dave McCormick]

Here is the caterpillar ready to form its pupae:



Here is the newly formed pupae: