www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Although I am not really much of a photographer I have had some success taking pictures of butterflies. With the newfound enthusiasm for butterflies that I have had since joining butterflu conservation at the British Birdwatching Fair I created a gallery of my best butterfly pictures. All the photos were taken with a handheld Nikon Coolpix 7600. Click on the thnbnails for larger versions. I have the first white butterfly in the gallery labelled as Green-veined White, but I am not so sure now. Also could anyone confirm that the skipper is Small Skipper? Or maybe not?

Pieris napi (G-W White) is correct, but I think the skipper is Thymelicus lineola (Essex S.)

Welcome to the Forum Nick. Some very nice pics you have there, especially an open wing of an Orange Tip, have you any idea how hard it is to get that shot.
For my money your Skipper is a Small Skipper, but I'm usally wrong

Gruditch

I always seem to be contradicting Gruditch, but I promise it's not deliberate...

For my money (Swiss Francs), the skipper is lineola (Essex) and I say this not just because of the antennae, which are notoriously deceptive from above, but because it is a male and it has a short, straight sex brand.

Guy

PS - Yes, welcome to the forum, Nick - full agreement with G on that!

I've been stalking essex/small skippers all summer and the first thing I said to myself before reading subsequent comments was "He's got himself an essex". The black tipped antennae and the short male sex brand makes for an easy identification. Females are harder to identify. There are one or two people on this forum who've been tearing their hair out looking for essex although I think they got one in the end. The second white is a female small white.
This is a great portfolio, especially from a compact. Hope to see more next year.

Thanks for the feedback.

The Skipper photo was taken in May 2006 at Kemsing Down in Kent. The Orange Tip with open wings took ages to get. I was out surveying Corn Buntings in East Yorkshire for my degree dissertation in May 2006 and had seen absolutely no CBs all morning. The sun was out and there were loads of Orange Tips everywhere and thought it would be easy to get some nice pictures. Even with so many butterflies around it took about 45 minutes before getting a few reasonable pictures, particularly as I had to get the camera within a few inches of the resting butterfly to take the photo.