Thanks,Trevor, wild Orange-tips are very scarce around here too
Hi Dave, yes It's very rewarding rearing Orange-tips and I'll never tire of watching them emerging! I've also looked on the SS album and can't find any females with the black spots. I guess it's within the range of variation?
Thanks, Dave
An audience with His Grace
We made another trip to Noar Hill today hoping that the Duke of Burgundy may have emerged, given that the weather has been so good of late. As we made our way through the reserve we reached the pit, where we had seen the Dukes last year on 15th of April, at around 1pm. As I entered the pit a small butterfly flew past me and I instinctively knew it was a Duke! I called Cathy so she could get a look at it, but before I could get any photos it took flight and we lost sight of it. We searched the area pretty thoroughly but couldn't find it again, but were not too dismayed as we'd both seen our first Duke of the year. Fortunately, we saw a lady who had also been looking for Dukes (I didn't get her name) and she very kindly told us she'd just seen two in another area. We agreed that probably we'd both been the first to see a Duke of Burgundy this year, but in different parts of the reserve. So we made our way over to where she had seen them and almost straightaway saw one in flight. It was quite difficult to follow as it was flying quite fast and not settling at all, probably due to the hot, sunny weather. Eventually it settled on a twig and we managed to get a shot before it took off again.
![P1160993.Resize.JPG (978.12 KiB) Viewed 649 times P1160993.Resize.JPG](./files/thumb_11970_04d9a683b1a3fe4e82a2f60efc8a09cc)
While we were looking for this Duke we spotted another which was very obliging, posing with open wings, and not flying too far. We noticed that, surprisingly, this Duke's appearance was different to the first two we had seen!
Totally satisfied with our good fortune
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
we made our way back down the reserve and almost trod on our fourth Duke near the site entrance.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Once again, it took flight before any photos could be taken, but we were more than satisfied with what we'd already seen today, and so left the reserve on a high
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)