Butterfly identification...?

FiveAshes · Post by **FiveAshes** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 7:52 pm

Hi,

I've always loved butterflies, but I've only just gotten a camera that can take clear enough pictures so I can start to identify them.

If you could tell me what it is and what family it's from that would be super.

Thank you

Dave McCormick · Post by **Dave McCormick** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 7:54 pm

Thats the Peacock See here: http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species. ... me=Peacock

Not very spectacular, cool enough in its own way. I have seen loads latley.

FiveAshes · Post by **FiveAshes** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 8:04 pm

Thanks Dave -

that was a fast response! In fact now you say it I can see the resemblance really easily and I feel like I wasted your time! It's just that I hadn't noticed the blue eyes - the ones in my garden didn't look as impressive as the online photos.

They seemed quite tame actually and they didn't mind that I was really close (only a couple of cm's away).

Thanks again,
Dominique

FiveAshes · Post by **FiveAshes** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 8:17 pm

I forgot to say earlier, that I really like the site.

It's so user-friendly! I found it attractive and easy to navigate. You can tell that you have worked hard on it and I appreciate that there is a resource like yours available for me (a complete novice) at a click of a button.

Thanks!

Post by **Pete Eeles** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 8:23 pm

Welcome, thanks for the kind words, and we look forward to more posts! The forums, in particular, are an excellent way to get access to expertise that would be almost impossible to access any other way!

Cheers,

- Pete

eccles · Post by **eccles** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 11:43 pm

@fiveashes, you've happened on one of the most fundamental things about snapping butterflies: catch them when they're busy! Buddleia acts almost like a drug to many butterflies. The nectar is so rich that they can't get enough of it, and while they're preoccupied you can take pictures. To catch that peacock away from a nectar source while it is basking would be a lot more demanding of careful approach.
In fact, if you followed me around my favourite butterfly haunts, you would often hear me proclaim as a butterfly took off: "I spooked it again, what a shame.". I would not be saying "Oh B*gger!"

Post by **Pete Eeles** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 6:18 pm

Dave McCormick wrote:Thats the Peacock See here: http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species. ... me=Peacock

Not very spectacular, cool enough in its own way. I have seen loads latley.

Dave - you're the first person I've ever seen suggest that the Peacock isn't spectacular!!! Rare - no. Spectacular - absolutely! You must have a different measurement system to me

Cheers,

- Pete

Dave McCormick · Post by **Dave McCormick** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 6:31 pm

@Pete: maybe cause I have seen so many around, I got bored with them? like the ringlets, so common that I get fed up with seeing them so much. Other species like DG Fratillary or skippers would excite me more as I don't get to see them much.

Cotswold Cockney · Post by **Cotswold Cockney** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 9:05 pm

Dave McCormick wrote:@Pete: maybe cause I have seen so many around, I got bored with them? like the ringlets, so common that I get fed up with seeing them so much. Other species like DG Fratillary or skippers would excite me more as I don't get to see them much.

Bored and fed up with common ... Hmmm.

I get as much pleasure seeing a Common or Holly Blue passing through my garden as seeing an Adonis Blue up on the Hills.

To my eyes, the The Peacock is one of the most beautiful creatures on the planet. Rejoice that is so numerous ~ I do and would greatly miss them if they were to disappear. Next time you see a freshly emerged Ringlet, take your time to have a really close look at it.... they are just as beautiful in their own way. My little field supports a strong colony of them .... as well as several other Satyrids ..... always a joy when the first one is seen each season. This hot Sunday, 'my' field was alive with common butterflies ..... a delight to see. Although not a wood, the three mature Oaks all support their own populations of Purple Hairstreak too. Like the White letter which somehow survives on the sapling Elms, or maybe the Blackthorns which are everywhere at the field edges and hedgerows (have found wild Ova on Blackthorn in an adjacent county), the Purple Hairstreak can maintain a population on a solitary tree. Something I have only witnessed since acquiring my field fifteen years ago. Prior to that observation, I always thought it was strictly a large woodland butterfly.

Moral, no matter what you already know, there is always something new to learn.

Dave McCormick · Post by **Dave McCormick** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 9:46 pm

Thinking, they would be missed if they went. Basically I like new discoveries. Small coppers sitll give me pleasure seeing them after all these years. And so do blues. Those two will never change how I feel.

But some just, I like them, when they are not around, but I like new things. I would love to see a brimstone, that would be good. Peacocks I like them, especially now that I have seen what looks to be bigger females and loads in one small area.

Rogerdodge · Post by **Rogerdodge** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 10:07 pm

aaaaah - some sentiments I can agree with.
When I am out in the field there are two phrases I try to avoid-
"Oh it's only a ...."
or
"Oh it's just a...."
One day you may find that the "just a" ain't there anymore - or the "only a" has suddenly got scarce.
As with C.C., I take as much pleasure from the House Martins outside my bedroom window as I do from watching red-necked phalarope in Shetland. I find the Red Admiral on my Buddleia as fascinating as the DoB I search out every spring.
Also, you only know something is out of the ordinary if you are REALLY familiar with the ordinary.
Please try to avoid those two phrases.........
Roger

Dave McCormick · Post by **Dave McCormick** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 10:10 pm

Yes, I suppose we do need to avoid. Whites are not just white right? There are differences, even thought they are plain, they still facinate me.

green demon · Post by **green demon** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 8:43 pm

Dave McCormick wrote:@Pete: maybe cause I have seen so many around, I got bored with them? like the ringlets, so common that I get fed up with seeing them so much. Other species like DG Fratillary or skippers would excite me more as I don't get to see them much.

A Fresh(ish) Ringlet:

I think it's lovely although quite plain and very common.

Simon

eccles · Post by **eccles** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 11:21 pm

Simon, a snap of a male ringlet that fresh isn't all *that* common. The first male I saw this year was probably only a few days old but was already showing his first battle scars with scratched upper wings.
I have to confess to giving a sigh when confronting yet another gatekeeper when searching for brown hairstreak, but when I actually stop and snap a gatekeeper, or see masses of them in a hedgerow it's just as special.

Dave McCormick · Post by **Dave McCormick** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 11:26 pm

Thats a nice pic, all mine are older worn specimins. Seeing them fresh does make you think. I look forward to seeing them becuase of the differences in spots that many have e.g. some with three spots on forewings, some with three spots on one forwing and two on other or the size of the spots differ.

Well, I was in a place today that changed the way I feel. I was bombarded by peacocks and saw sun shining of them and it looked great. Also many red admirals and small tortoiseshell too. It was a great sight, like out of a fairytale or something. Strong plant smells and butterflies glaore, and a small white put in an appearence too for a few mins. What a night.

Gruditch · Post by **Gruditch** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 5:40 pm

Dave are the Small Tortoiseshells as rare in N I as they are over here now

. As you may of seen in one of Gwenies posts, we found some at the weekend, and I never thought I would ever be so excited to see a Small Tortoiseshell.

Gruditch

Dave McCormick · Post by **Dave McCormick** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 8:21 pm

Hi Gruditch,

Where I live there was an explosion of the populations of Small Tortoiseshells and they are everwhere. They are about as common as the Meadow Browns and Ringlets and you can probably know how common they where. I counted on one wall last week, feeding on the red valerian plants, around 10+ and just as many Red Admirals. There was about 20-30 in the field I think.

They are very common here.