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William wrote:Could 3 be a Pearl Bordered Fritillary, and 8 a Chalkhill Blue (male)? All are lovely photos .

Good shout, William. I was erring towards Duke of Burgundy for number 3 but PBF may well be the better bet.

Are these butterflies all found in the UK, by the way?

Could the Large White actually be a Small White, I was thinking about Wood White for some reason as I remember seeing the black flecks on their wings but then seeing David put Large White got me thinking that perhaps it could be a Small? As for the last one I would go for Chalkhill too not sure why though?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thank you for your kind comment, William, appreciated as always. You are spot on for photo No. 8, it is indeed a male Chalkhill Blue. As for photo No. 3 being a Pearl-bordered Fritillary, not even close i`m afraid. David the Duke of Burgundy is wrong as well. And Wurzel the Small White is wrong too for photo No. 6, but the right family. The Large and Small White`s wings, where they have small specks of black on the undersides, has a yellow background as shown in the photo below of a Small Whites hindwing undersides. I know there is a small covering of black specks on the forwings, right down by the Thorax on both the Small and Large Whites, but it`s not this area portrayed in photo No. 6. Photo No. 6 is a small section of the underside of the hindwing. And to answer your question David. They are all butterflies found in Britain. If no one gets the ID of photo No. 3 by tomorrow, i will post a photo with slightly more of the wing showing, but not to much, which in my view, will give the ID of this butterfly away.

All the best, Nick.

hideandseek wrote:Thank you for your kind comment, William, appreciated as always. You are spot on for photo No. 8, it is indeed a male Chalkhill Blue. As for photo No. 3 being a Pearl-bordered Fritillary, not even close i`m afraid. David the Duke of Burgundy is wrong as well. And Wurzel the Small White is wrong too for photo No. 6, but the right family. The Large and Small White`s wings, where they have small specks of black on the undersides, has a yellow background as shown in the photo below of a Small Whites hindwing undersides.

Small White [3] just emerged 203-6_2.jpg

I know there is a small covering of black specks on the forwings, right down by the Thorax on both the Small and Large Whites, but it`s not this area portrayed in photo No. 6. Photo No. 6 is a small section of the underside of the hindwing. And to answer your question David. They are all butterflies found in Britain. If no one gets the ID of photo No. 3 by tomorrow, i will post a photo with slightly more of the wing showing, but not to much, which in my view, will give the ID of this butterfly away.

All the best, Nick.

Okay, Nick. You've got me with number 3.

I've actually been through the entire list of UK species and I can only see possible correlation with two:

Brown Hairstreak or Painted Lady.

That's me out now and I'll await the new photograph with interest.

I've been staring at picture 3 like a complete zombie and find it completely baffling too. My best guess is that it shows part of the forewing of a very bright hutchinsoni comma. That is the only species I can even begin to make the markings fit ...

Guy

padfield wrote:I've been staring at picture 3 like a complete zombie and find it completely baffling too.

That's the most reassuring comment I've ever seen on this forum.

If Guy Padfield is baffled, what hope do we mere mortals have?

Roll on the expanded image tomorrow!

Hi Nick, picture number three is a real teaser and I must admit to spending some time looking at it. Cathy thinks its a female Brown Hairstreak but I have no idea

Mike

If it's not a Fritillary, could picture 3 be a very fresh Gatekeeper or Speckled Wood ?

I must admit, I would have gone with Gatekeeper Especially since the black "lines" seem to be missing scales!

Cheers,

- Pete

I said last night "i would post a photo showing a bit more of the wing to photo 3" if no one had come up with the correct answer. But some clever cloggs has only gone and got the answer right. And so after all the trouble i went to of preparing not one photo, but two, would you believe, just in case i needed to post a further clue, i`m still going to post both photos, [my diary]. So here they are.These two photos should give the ID to this butterfly away, as it is the only British butterfly with these markings of this colour in the bottom left hand corner of the photos. The person who got the answer right will definitely know who he is. I will give the answer later. I know its a bit cheeky, but as i said its my diary.

Okay. Gatekeeper or Speckled Wood it is then?

Or Comma

Cheers,

- Pete

I have to take my hat off to you Guy. It is a small section of a Comma`s forewing, [male]. I can see how you arrived at your answer, so a big well done.
Whether it is a Hutchinsoni or not, i have no idea, as i have never seen a variation of this kind in a Comma before.
Pete, well done to you as well.
Wurzel, i forgot to congratulate you for identifying the male Chalkhill Blue, so well done. If you had stuck to your original instincts with photo 6, instead of going for a Small White you would of been correct.
I would like to thank everyone who participated, so thankyou.
I will post photos of all eight butterflies in full.

All the best, Nick.

Thanks, Nick! I'm very curious to see the whole butterfly. It's obviously a tremendous picture and it looks as if it's a very special insect too.

Guy

No wonder I was non-plussed - I thought they were all UNDERWING shots!!

I think you'll find this is an underwing shot, David ... But I don't think you need an excuse for being confused. It was a very clever crop, which hid almost everything you might normally use to recognise comma. For the record, I first identified which bit of which wing it was, from the venation, then downloaded the picture and reorientated it, then just stared, filling in the rest of the butterfly in my mind until something fitted. It had to be the tortoiseshell group, from the position of the pale patch, and comma was the only tortoiseshell that seemed to work.

Guy

Aah! Forewing uns.

I can't wait to see the broader image.

Excellent teaser, Nick.

That was a great little brain burner Nick and it's reminded me to listen to my gut, (especially when it says I'm hungry ) Loved the scale detail on the close-ups

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thank you for the very kind comments David, and Wurzel. As always appreciated.

David, the original photo i posted of the underside of the Comma`s wing was misleading from the start, as the butterfly was upside-down when i photographed it. I thought the curve of the vains on the wing would have given this away. So if you had turned the photo around 180 degrees [ as i`m sure Guy had done] it would have been in the position one is normally familiar with, up-right and, given you a totally diferent prospective. The wing markings at the bottom of photos 2 and 3 would then have been at the top of the photo and, i`m pretty sure this would have given the identity of the butterfly away. Here are the three original photos turned 180 degrees.

You schemer, Nick. Yes, it's all very simple when you get the clues!