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Overall Favourite Photo 2018

Week 20

So we reach the final week of the Favourites 2018 and just in time as it seems most people have seen their first butterflies of 2019! This thread is the opportunity to showcase your overall favourite Photo from 2018! We've finally gotten here, the winter is almost over and the butterflies have arrived - phew we made it!

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

Overall Favourite

There were so many to choose from for my overall Favourite that I was just glad that there were the individual threads! Even then I was deliberating for a very long time but in the end I had to go for this shot of a Spotted Fritillary. I’ve been used to seeing Fritillaries but this species is so bright and garish it almost looks faked – as though someone’s messed around with the saturation levels on my computer! I was toying with choosing the shot of my Southern White Admiral as my overall Fave but when I flicked through the various images on my iPod I kept coming back to this one.
Have a goodun

Wurzel

My images are hopeless from a photography critic's point of view, so I always look for something unusual and rarely seen.

This shot fulfils those criteria - a Great Banded Grayling nectaring on thistles but with wings open, which isn't something you see every day:

Nothing shameful about the quality of your photos, David! But I agree, the ups of a great banded grayling are very special. And that's a great photo of spot frit, Wurzel.

No difficulty at all for me in choosing the species for my favourite photo of the year. It is the one that trumps all others when you see it, not least because most of the time you don't. 'Une journée christi' is the French for a day spent standing on vertiginously precarious slopes, eyes glued to rocky outcrops and grassy tufts and seeing precisely zero Erebia christi. But every so often it pays off, as it has done for me half a dozen times over the years. So here is one of my 2018 shots of the fabled creature, arguably Europe's rarest butterfly:



That particular individual was my first of 2018. It was about 15h00 after a full day's hunting. Vincent Baudraz spotted her in fast flight further along the track and cried out, 'christi!' She flew as if to go over my left shoulder then at the last minute darted right, high over my right shoulder. I leapt up and took her cleanly with a backhand in mid-air. I just couldn't believe it when I saw I had actually caught her. A few minutes later we'd both taken photos and she continued on her way, none the worse for her experience. We hope she went on to lay lots of eggs for the 2020 season (christi has a two-season life-cycle).

If I only get one trip to Switzerland in 2019 it will be in early July, south of the Simplon, for more of the same ...

Guy

this picture reminds me of my French adventures...

I'm going for quirky...

This was taken at Mill Hill, late in the season. The well-behaved dog in the background belongs to David Cook, who I regularly bump into at Sussex sites.
Vince

Charles Nicol wrote:this picture reminds me of my French adventures...

You just had to didn't you, Charles?

What on earth is it perched on?

David M wrote:

Charles Nicol wrote:this picture reminds me of my French adventures...

You just had to didn't you, Charles?

What on earth is it perched on?

ermmm that is my hiking stick

Charles Nicol wrote:

David M wrote:

Charles Nicol wrote:this picture reminds me of my French adventures...

You just had to didn't you, Charles?

What on earth is it perched on?

ermmm that is my hiking stick

Did you coat it with over-ripe banana and rum?

I quite like this photo I took at Temple Ewell Kent Of a Chalkhill Blue, it brings back some happy memories as well Goldie

I am liking these shots! It is so hard to pick a favourite, but I am going to choose this shot of a Reverdin's Blue underside as my 2018 fave, from the Burgundy region of France. Don't now why...it's not the rarest species I saw in 2018 - its not even a lifer - I just really like it... By the way, am I the only one who can't see Guy's photo of christi? It is blank when I view it in MS edge.

petesmith wrote:By the way, am I the only one who can't see Guy's photo of christi? It is blank when I view it in MS edge.

Hi Pete. If the problem persists, could you let me know? This is the direct URL of the picture: http://www.guypadfield.com/images2018/c ... l2018g.jpg

I can view it with Edge but I normally use Chrome.

Thanks,

Guy

petesmith wrote:I am liking these shots! It is so hard to pick a favourite, but I am going to choose this shot of a Reverdin's Blue underside as my 2018 fave, from the Burgundy region of France. Don't now why...it's not the rarest species I saw in 2018 - its not even a lifer - I just really like it...
zReverdin's Blue unds.jpg

By the way, am I the only one who can't see Guy's photo of christi? It is blank when I view it in MS edge.

It's the sheer clarity of the image that sets it apart, Pete, and the fact it is a mint fresh specimen helps.

PS - I can see Guy's christi in glorious technicolour on all browsers!

David M wrote:

Charles Nicol wrote:

David M wrote:
You just had to didn't you, Charles?

What on earth is it perched on?

ermmm that is my hiking stick

Did you coat it with over-ripe banana and rum?

unfortunately i had left the over-ripe banana and rum in the hostel

these butterflies are naturally curious and love perching on things. even if you hold your arm out they will come & land on it.

After long and hard consideration, looking at many many photos, I decided on this one. Seen at Denbies Hillside on 28th August, amongst a host of other female Adonis, this one really stood out. Dave

millerd wrote:this one really stood out

Small wonder, Dave, that's a stunner!

After equally long consideration, I have chosen this as my favourite of the year - for a combination of a (very) close encounter with a rare and charismatic species, and the memories of a great day out on Irton Fell & Whin Rigg on 10th June.

I can see why that female stood out, millerd. Absolutely sublime.

Roger

Roger Gibbons wrote:I can see why that female stood out, millerd. Absolutely sublime.

Indeed. That's an absolutely superb image of a female Adonis Blue, Dave. It'd be hard to improve on that!

I hope this one is helpful for species emergence timings: Kind regards