Thank you M. I'm glad you like it - you know how long it took me to get those shots ...............
Hi Mike - good to hear from you. There's nothing more vibrant than a newly emerged butterfly, is there? I just love seeing them in such a perfect condition which is why, I suppose, I spend so much time doing it
Thank you Dave - I was also pleased to catch the Brimstone....... and you're right, I do look back at my diary in the winter and tho' I am often dissatisfied with my photos at the time, I sometimes catch myself thinking 'did I really take that photo?'
Cheers Wurzel - I took about 200 shots so there were bound to be a few good ones, eh?
The Red Admiral that I referred to earlier and which almost caused me to miss the emergence was this one:
and more Whites in the garden at one time than I have ever seen before:
I read somewhere recently that catching the upperside of the wing in flight is a challenge. For me, catching a butterfly in any sort of flight is a massive challenge but there were so many Small Whites trying to egg-lay in the same small patch that I thought I would give it a try. I watched rejection behaviour frequently between 2 females who were trying to defend their egg-laying patch although I think the ones in this shot are 2 females and a male:
A quick check showed that 'my' Dingy Skipper is doing fine (haven't checked the ones on the common this week after the rain). I don't really like these larva as they remind me of a cross between a maggot and a slug - however they have interesting habits and like the ugly duckling will hopefully turn into a beautiful butterfly:
I have yet again been grounded as the antibiotics I was prescribed made me too dizzy to drive (at least the infected insect bites are healing up). Yesterday was the first day I was able to go out for what seemed like ages so despite the weather:
I decided to look for SSS. I got a thorough soaking in the process and all I found were aged DGF's egg-laying:
and a lovely fresh Small Copper:
Of some consolation was the stunning path of blue confetti (AKA CB) which was thrown in front of me each step I took. Clearly these are having a good year from what I have read in other reports too.