Painted Lady - Favourite Photo of 2013

[Vince Massimo]

Week 13.

Here is the opportunity to post your favourite photo(s) of a particular species taken in 2013 (or the last time you saw one!).

This is part of a series of topics which will grow over 20 weeks throughout the winter, eventually covering all 59 species which are regularly found in the British Isles. The intention is to showcase three species per week (in alphabetical order), so please wait until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos. Our overseas members are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants.

Details of locations, dates, times and circumstances would be welcome and please feel free to contribute observations of behaviour, stories of personal encounters, anecdotes or other interesting points.

Vince

[Wurzel]

Painted Lady

I watched with growing envy as entry after entry on the PD forum came in featuring great shots of Painted Ladies and Clouded Yellows. Eventually I found my Lady in Ffos-y-ffin and then again at Stockbridge and Martin Down but this is my favourite from Alners Gorse back on a fantastic day in August. I’d been trying for the classic closed wing shot for a few years and this is the closest yet. It was flying around a clump of Bramble with some of the ubiquitous yellow flowers a long with a Ted Admiral, Peacocks, Small Torts, a Small Skipper, Common Blue, Brimstone and other various whites including a male Cloudy. While I was there it was also visited by a pair of Buzzards from Essex.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[MikeOxon]

I didn't see many of these in 2013 but this one was displaying nicely on Otmoor, Oxon.

Otmoor, Oxon - 6th August 2013
Nikon D300s with 300/4 + 1.4X TC - 1/500s@f/11 ISO800

Mike

[David M]

Not a great year for Painted Ladies, but I saw a reasonable few during August & September, including this one photographed in Pontardawe on 14th September on buddleia next to the local Tesco's!

[Neil Freeman]

I saw maybe a dozen or so Painted Ladies in 2013 during my travels, the first being a couple at Croyde Bay in North Devon in late June. Then there were a few singles including at Arnside in early August and Grafton Wood later in the same month and then half a dozen or so in Dorset in early September.

I did not get that many photos, my favourite probably being this one taken at Grafton Wood.

Painted Lady - Grafton Wood 24.08.2013

Cheers,

Neil.

[CFB]

Seen on June 21 in the Parc Départemental de la Brague:

--
Colin

[Chris Jackson]

Hi Colin,
Viewed on Google Maps, your Parc Départemental de la Brague looks like a nice big opportunity for butterfly hunting.
Here is my favorite Painted Lady from the scrub in Vitrolles in October - they all seemed to turn up toward the end of the season.
Chris

cardui on 'Globularia' - Vitrolles October 10, 2013

[badgerbob]

I had dropped my Mum off for a hospital appointment at Crowborough and had a short time to kill before picking her up to try for some Black Darter dragonflies. After succeeding with them I got back to the carpark to find this Painted Lady nectaring on the fleabane.

http://bobsbutterflies.blogspot.com

[Vince Massimo]

I only saw a couple of Painted Ladies in 2013 and this is the best I could manage .

Coulsdon, Surrey 23-July-2013

Vince

[millerd]

Likewise, I only spotted two all year: one on my home patch and one up in Yorkshire. Here is the former butterfly in typical buddleia pose. This was 25th August, a day notable for seeing my first local Brown Argus of the year and my only local Small Copper.

It was a very good day for butterflies all round, and I can remember that a lot of blackberries were consumed as well.

Dave

[maverick]

seen on Abergele beach [a nice place to be for your hols ]
i had gone down to the beach to get some pictuers of the common blues when this little fella came along

[Maximus]

Painted Lady, Hampshire. We saw Painted Ladies at various sites in Hampshire in 2013, usually single specimens.