White Admiral - Favourite Photo of 2013

[Vince Massimo]

Week 20 (final categories)

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 the final part of a series of topics which have been growing over 20 weeks throughout the winter, aiming to cover all 59 species which are regularly found in the British Isles. 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.

Next week (Sunday 2nd March) you will all have the opportunity of posting your favourite single image of the year. This will be in the Photography section of the forums.

Vince

[Wurzel]

White Admiral

My fave White Admiral was taken at Bentley Wood. I found them really tricky to photograph this year as whenever I located them they were extremely active. Even when I visited Verne Ditch at 8pm they were still bombing around just out of reach of my lens and constantly moving. I’d almost given up on finding one to photograph until I met one in the car park of Bentley Wood after searching for His Nibbs with Philzoid and all our girls. It was perched at shoulder height and although I did manage to get some other shots this one is my favourite as it’s the closest I’ve gotten to the under wing shot. If only it had been fresher...still got to leave something for next year .

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

Having completely drawn a blank on visits to Botany Bay, and to the woods near the Alice Holt visitor centre, I was pleased to see this graceful and elegant butterfly again at Strawberry Wood, part of Black Park near Pinewood Studios. It was a lovely day, and I was treated to a couple of individuals languidly following each other round and round an open but shaded area under some well-spaced young oak trees. The pair continued for some ten minutes, briefly stopping on the same bits of foliage on each circuit. I managed a shot during one of these pauses for breath.

I also found others enjoying the bramble flowers in more traditional fashion.

Dave

[Neil Freeman]

I saw good numbers of White Admirals at Oversley Wood last year although when I was there in mid June it was on a hot afternoon and they were actively flitting about with very little settling. When they did land it was often not to nectar but rather on the paths to take up minerals where I managed to creep up on one individual for a couple of photos,

White Admiral - Oversley Wood 13.07.2013

A few days later I was in Fermyn Woods for the Purple Emperors where amongst all the Imperial Purpleness it was easy to overlook all the other butterflies that were also around which included a number of White Admirals,

White Admiral - Fermyn 18.07.2013

White Admiral - Fermyn 18.07.2013

Cheers,

Neil.

[Rosalyn]

We were looking for Purple Emperor 14th June, Lovely day spent in the company or Nick and Erja

Fermyn Wood

[David M]

A visit to Bentley Wood on 15th July gave me my only photos of White Admiral last year (and not very good ones at that):