Large White - Favourite Photo of 2014

[Wurzel]

Week 10

So continues sequence of posts giving one and all the opportunity to showcase their favourite shots of 2014 (or the last time you saw one)!

Please could I ask that everyone waits until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos? Of course our overseas members are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants. As like last year details of locations, dates, times and circumstances would be welcome as would any accompanying stories and anecdotes or other observations of behaviour and interesting other points.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Chris Jackson]

You're very kind Wurzel, you open the subject on the Sunday evening earlier than Vince did

Here is my Large White.
Down in the South of France this year the winter was very mild. Temperatures often reached 16 °C in the afternoon, especially in January (a bit colder in February) and no doubt encouraged this LW to appear early. January 14th:

I love mild winters.
Chris

[David M]

This species was one of the big 2014 losers for me on my patch. I reckon I saw fewer than 50 and quite a few of the ones I DID see were fluttering around my neighbours' cabbages in August.

The best shot I got all year was of this female at the West Williamston Brown Hairstreak site on 21st September:

[millerd]

Very few around my patch either, David, so I had to rely on a couple of visits to Yorkshire in late July and late August for any photos at all.

Here are a selection showing all four life stages.

female (29th July)

female with eggs on nasturtium leaf (27th July)

caterpillar (26th August)

chrysalis (25th August)

All from a garden in Wilberfoss.

Dave

[Goldie M]

My Photo's were taken, one in my Garden on the 9th Sept and one in Bently Wood on the edge of a puddle, 11th July

The weather had been very wet that day but quite hot before that ideal really for Butterflies to do some puddling

No sign of the Butterfly I'd traveled so far to see though PE, try again next year Goldie

[Rosalyn]

I haven't had much luck photographing the Large White over the years. This is my best, taken whilst whilst waiting for the Scarce Tortoiseshell to put in an appearance Norfolk

[Neil Freeman]

Large Whites were slow to get going around my patch this year and most of my early sightings turned out to be female Brimstones. By the time that summer had got underway there were a fair few about at most places but nowhere did they seem as abundant as in 2013. I only manage a few shots of this species this year, the underside below taken at Castle Hills near Solihull being about the best.

Large white - Castle Hills Solihull 08.06.2014

Cheers,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

Cheers cj, I do it early so I can get it done before the girls go to bed

Large White 28-08 Mottisfont

I don’t know whether it was a bad year for Large White (I’ve yet to start my yearly look back) but when it came to choosing my favourite photo of this species I discovered I had a dearth of shots. I could count the number of different sets on one hand and in the end only two sets were any good. So this is my favourite which was taken at Mottisfont at the end of August. I like the way the colours of the background make the butterfly stand out.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Vince Massimo]

I had so many eggs laid in my garden at the end of 2103, that I rescued a few larvae and reared them through. These overwintered as pupae and started emerging in April 2014. This gave me the opportunity to record some sequences of the adults emerging.

Large White pupa - Caterham, Surrey 25-April-2014

Large White emerging - Caterham Surrey 26-April-2014

Full sequences are available here: http://www.dispar.org/reference.php?id=19

My Photo's were taken, one in my Garden on the 9th Sept and one in Bently Wood on the edge of a puddle, 11th July.The weather had been very wet that day but quite hot before that ideal really for Butterflies to do some puddling

Goldie, your second photo is a Green-veined White

[Goldie M]

whoops! I should know by now Here's what I should have put in Goldie