The Camberwell Beauties are still out in goodish numbers in this part of the world (Var), which seems exceptionally late (they are usually seen only in April) but the poor weather here has retarded the flight seasons of nearly all species.
On 16 May I saw two hibernated (hence the battered state) CBs engaged in an aerobatic display; they occasionally come to ground but if disturbed they soar back to the tree canopy in what seems like a fraction of a second.
One settled regularly on a fencepost which it used as a vantage point to fend off all-comers. As I was standing almost motionless, it also landed on my head, which probably does look like a fencepost viewed from above.
It also settled (photo 20096) on an electrified fence! There was a film called “Bird on a Wire” a while ago, so I guess this is the sequel “Butterfly on a Wire”!
In passing, the US name for this butterfly is, I think, Morning Cloak. I wonder if the cloak-like pose of the CB I posted earlier (wings rather folded back) influenced its US name?