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Large White - Favourite Photo of 2018

Week 9

Apparently Christmas is coming ? So we must be entering the 9th week of the Favourites Thread

Please could I ask that everyone waits until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos as then it will be easier to keep track of things? Of course our overseas members are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants. As in previous years 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

I didn't see many of these until quite late in the season. This one was down in Dorset. A decent looking insect but some little amorous blighters decided to ruin the shot

I took my shots of the large White in my back garden on the 28th of September, it was the only time I think I saw them open their wings I saw loads of the BF's through the year, they'd a good year in the North compared to last year.Goldie

I only even tried to photograph Large White on 20th May at Engine Bank, Mepal, Cambs and this one on 7th July Aversley Wood, Cambs I've never found them to be cooperative. The definition of which is, involving mutual assistance in working towards a common goal. They don't want to be photographed, they have other goals on their mind Luckily this one was taking a pitstop

I went to Spurn Head on 20th July with my partner and a group of her colleagues. This was right in the middle of the Large White influx and many were making landfall at this noted migration hotspot! Most individuals were far too active to photograph - in this photo, I tried to capture a female as she beat off the advances of an unwanted male!

That photo of Bugboy's with the incoming squadrons of Lulworths really highlights the size of a Large White. Great shot!

Aside from the mating pair seen back on 22nd April (which I have recently posted in my review of the year so I won't include them again), I didn't get many shots of this species. However, the buddleias in my sister's garden in Yorkshire are a reliable source of material, and this year was no exception - though numbers were definitely down. Dave

This species was fairly uncommon in south Wales in 2018, so much so that I don't think I got an image of a female worthy of the name.

This male captured on 18 May on Kilvey Hill was the most presentable:

How things change in a year! Last year (2017), at the end of July, the Knepp estate was awash with male Brown Hairstreaks nectaring on thistles. This year I paid a couple of visits around the same time but didn't see any, one of the only photos I got was this Large White. I think maybe the reason for the difference was that the thistles were more or less over by the end of July this year.
Knepp estate, August 4th 2018, 11.58am

Cheers
John W

This year I took loads of photos of Large Whites, but (as usual) not many were of adults. My favourite was taken right at the end of the season on the Sussex coast at Lancing and shows characteristic features on the head of the larvae which distinguish them as 5th instars.
Vince

CallumMac wrote:Most individuals were far too active to photograph - in this photo, I tried to capture a female as she beat off the advances of an unwanted male!

Embarrassingly, it's now been pointed out to me that the one sharp photo I took of a Large White on that day was in fact... not of a Large White!

Don't worry about it Callum, I made the same mistake with a Brown Argus Goldie

"Pip"
We had a nasturtium growing as a house plant on our window ledge. This Large White Pupa, pupated on the inside of our window frame, on or around 4th October.
If our house warms up for Christmas, someone might not be able to handle it (so I thought that I would tell you anyway).
The Large White can migrate as a Spring or Summer brood adult and had big generational overlaps because of Brassica grown "under glass"(higher average temperature) in the United Kingdom.
Our winter cabbages were bought from the covered part of a local garden centre, with Large White eggs "insitu". Wishing you a "White" Christmas

Large White

This was taken on the school grounds during one of my lunchtime sojourns. It was my favourite because I saw so few this year and also because it was beautifully crisp and new and I love the lemon-lime colour.
Have a goodun

Wurzel

Lots of Large Whites about during the first half of summer but numbers dropped later in the year when they were easily outnumbered by Small Whites. Most of those that I saw were highly mobile but I did manage to catch the occasional one settled briefly including the female below at Snitterfield Bushes near Stratford-upon-Avon.
Cheers,

Neil.