Reverdin

[Reverdin]

If anyone is looking, and recognizes this.. maybe you could tell me... is it a Tree Pipit????

sorry about the poor quality

[Reverdin]

The weather is really annoying me! - Where I saw my first Green Hairstreaks over a week ago now looks like this...

Not looking like seeing any more for a while yet.

[Wurzel]

Tell me about it we're looking like having non-stop rain/showers until Friday down here . What makes it worse is the smiling weather people - the worse the weather the broader their grins!
Here's hoping they get it totally wrong, hang on in there!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Reverdin]

This was resting by the pond tonight, after a heavy showery day with some warm bright spells bringing steaming pavements - the first butterfly I have seen now for a good while, and I notice the weathermen are still smiling!

Roosting male cardamines

closer

[Padfield]

How are your w-album doing, Rev? Have the eggs hatched?

Guy

[Wurzel]

The first photo is lush - with a green waterfall in the background, ace! The weathermans grin almost split his head in two it was so big last night when he announced that it was going to be getting colder over the weekend It must be special training they get for that...

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Reverdin]

aha.... the green background is actually blurry young Yellow Flag leaves.... accidentally rather waterfally... but, hey, you win some..... glad you like it Wurzel, thanks, and damn the weatherpeople

Hi Guy, yes, the w-album ovae had hatched by the first time I got to visit in early March, straight on return from Marrakech.... really really early I think, with the flowers barely breaking... I haven't any young larvae photos, as the position is difficult and they are impossible to find!! Hope they are OK.. will have to scour the tree when they are larger. I actually became aware of loads of ovae around here, sometimes 2 together, so seems they did quite well in 2011... hope that doesn't bringa fall this year.

[MikeOxon]

is it a Tree Pipit?

As no-one else seems to have stuck their neck out - I'll say that I think it is! I'm not an expert birder but, unless it's something very rare, it seems to fit the description to me.

Mike

[Reverdin]

Thanks Mike... I was giving up on that one... wasn't a great shot but appreciate the endorsement... it's nice to know


Oh... and just to add.... the PH ovae locally have also hatched in the last week, well... 2 out of 4 I was watching have. I am accustomed to checking out fallen oak branches in winter now... and by the river for the first time this year I found an egg on one!... I might just have saved my first butterfly wired the dead bud to the Oak in our garden.

[Reverdin]

Another forgetable day's weather, cold, windy and squally....... that is until mid afternoon when I trudged round the garden... there is a scattering of violets, primroses and peggles, and on one I was delighted to find an absolutely pristine female Orange Tip. She had to be gently moved into a more image friendly position, but it was still cold, and she wasn't going anywhere! So some leisurely practising later, I came up with these images... (the background of the first 2 is a Silver Birch trunk)

.... and then she was carefully placed just where she started, hopefully to lay some eggs in due course all over the garden.

[Reverdin]

Another trip up to the moors this afternoon, with the sun occasionally breaking through... only 2 Green Hairstreaks, but the chance of more images... this male sitting on one of the charred heather twigs left over from last year's burning... right through the middle of the bilberry patch they centre round.... maybe their paucity is not just weather related

and a bit closer....

[Reverdin]

Only a few short bursts of sunshine today, and plenty of brooding rainclouds. A male cardamines and a male napi were briefly out and about at home, and bluebells gave a promising backdrop...

napi among bluebells

up close

sheltering cardamines

single rapae and aegeria were in the garden yesterday for the first time this year

[biosdr]

beautiful photos Reverdin! they were just resting on the flowers, right? nice place for doing that.

[Reverdin]

or was it the "hand of God" as Marradonna once said ( English joke - World Cup tradgedy)

In truth, whenever I find them roosting, it is on white narcissi, but as long as one is careful, they aren't harmed.... as long as they go back on the white narcissi afterwards that is.

That also means, shots such as the above are un-natural really, as if on bluebells at all, they would be nectaring on a decent day. Still, made for some pretty pictures, and no harm done...
however I know there are some purists here who would tut loudly at the thought. Please presume I frequently feel tutted at

[Nick Broomer]

I`m sure the practise is common place one way or another, no matter what the subject. And whats wrong with someone using ones knowledge of wildlife to get the photo they desire. Nothing, as you said, "there is no harm done to the butterfly"

By the way some lovely photos.

Nick.

[biosdr]

well, it's ok!

I assumed it would be a little weird if all the butterflies were resting on such nice and noticeable spots.

[Rogerdodge]

I consider that moving torpid butterflies to obtain a pleasing photograph is not a problem, as long as certain rules are followed.
1/Move on a stick - not a finger. The warmth from the finger can encourage the butterfly to fly before the ambient temperature will allow sustained flight.
2/ Physical contact should be kept to an absolute minimum.
3/ Return the insect to it's original position once finished.

I aso feel that the more endangered species should, perhaps, be left alone.

More than once, I have found myself wandering around with a buttefly on a stick looking for a nice posing spot.
Now I look for the spot before I move the butterfly.

I am sure that there are some who will feel that any interference to a butterfly is wrong, but I am sure that if the above rules are followed, the harm done will be minimal.
Perhaps the benefit from the public seeing a beautifully posed, and well taken photograph thus increasing awareness of "our" insects, will compensate?

[MikeOxon]

Strange, I'd never thought of moving a torpid butterfly to get a better photo! I do often follow an active one around for some time waiting (hoping!) that it will settle somewhere reasonably photogenic, and I regard this as part of the challenge of photography.

I am also willing to use Photoshop to tidy up a cluttered background if necessary. I suppose all this reflects that I am more comfortable messing about with photographs than with live creatures, where I fear I might be too clumsy. It also means that I avoid photo competitions that stipulate unaltered images, since I believe that post-processing of an image is an integral part of the art of photography. After all, one wouldn't expect an artist to include intrusive elements in a landscape painting.

Mike

[Padfield]

You're the gentlest giant I've ever met, Rev, and I would happily entrust any butterfly to your handling!

For me, though, the artistic value of a photograph cannot be entirely separated from its truthful representation of a butterfly and its environment. Personally, I would resist posing a roosting butterfly on a flower I had never known it to use for roosting - it would seem to be a teensy weensy lie. To take an extreme example: if you posed a torpid purple emperor on a beautiful flowerhead the result might in one sense be exquisite but in another sense it would ring very false.

Not a criticism - just another angle on this question. I have no idea if orange tips do ever use bluebells for roosting.

Guy

[Rogerdodge]

I have no idea if orange tips do ever use bluebells for roosting.

Guy
If they knew how wonderful it looked, they would do it all the time!