An insight into the life of Chiddingfold Wood's Wood White.
These are all my own observations, opinions and photographs of the Wood Whites within Chiddingfold Wood.
All photographs are the sole copyright of Nick Broomer, and written permission must be obtained for the use of any of my photographs.
Part one...Getting to know the Wood White
The smallest of our native Whites, this dainty butterfly can be found floating up and down the woodland rides and, with it's awkward unbalanced flight is quite unmistakable. But if you get up close and personal, the Wood White's flying ability is far from unbalanced and awkward. But an extremely capable, agile flyer of the highest level. This butterfly spends most of it's life weaving it's way through/between thick vegetation or just above it, and how often do you see Wood Whites with large chunks missing from their wings?, probably never, or at least i can say i never have, a small tear, yes. Their flying ability totally suiting their way of life. As the following couple of photos depict, with this female flying low through the vegetation, she looks almost certain to collide with the grass stems, but with only a couple of millimetres between her and the vegetation her wings are stretched to the limit, slowing her speed, then before you can blink an eyelid she going up and over, what flying, brilliant.
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There are two broods a year, the 1st brood fly from late April to late June and sometimes [but quite rarely] into early July. The 2nd brood normally fly from the first week July [between 5th-7th] until late August and have been known to fly even in the first few days of September but, this is again a rarity. With both broods the flying dates can vary, all depending on the great English weather, [and we all know how changeable that can be].
The 1st brood differ from the 2nd brood, in that the 1st brood Wood White's wings are what i call dirty,
[Like this 1st brood female in the above photo]
compared to the cleaner and certainly whiter wings of the 2nd brood, as depicted in the following photo of a 2nd brood male,
[nowhere near as many grey spots]. Also with the 2nd brood, the upper part of the legs can be totally naked of hair but,[Next photo]
this does not occur with every summer brood. Another not so obvious difference between the 1st and 2nd broods, is the black markings/spots situated on the top corners of the upper side of the forewings. The markings on the 1st brood male's wings
[as depicted in the next photo] are grey in colour, whilst the females have a slightly lighter spot; [no photo]. 2nd brood males have a black mark, fading around the edges to grey,[next photo]
whilst the females are very faint or totally absent as seen in the following picture.
The easiest way to distinguish the male from the female is by the antenna, the males having white tips to the antenna, [even though i am lead to believe that the white tips to the antenna appear with age, which i dispute]
This photo depicts a very fresh male with white tips to the antenna
And in this photo the male is quite old and worn, but the tips to the antenna are still white. The female's antenna are black in colour,
As shown in this photo with this very fresh female. the male's eyes are also larger than that of the female. Also the coloration of the male's eyes can vary from a blueish tint to a light purple background colour with black and grey spots. [its possible the purple colouring effect could be caused by light refraction, but i have only found this purple coloration in males and, never in females no matter what light conditions occur on any particular day, time of day etc. ]
This photo was taken into the sun.
Whilst this photo was taken in the evening in poor light. The females are normally a light blue, and on the very rare occasion a light green.
To be continued...