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this butterfly was sniffing around a female GVW today and i'm not sure but i'm almost certain he's a male GVW, couldn't get a view of the underwing as i had with the female though.

any help would be appreciated, oh and i saw my first red admiral of year, he was HUGE

Yep thats a GV White male. It has one spot on uppseside, and dark lines. If your able to get a close look at underside of one, you'll see dark lines that are actually dark green, hence the name. Females have two spots on upperside. Only other butterfly that looks similar is small white, but it has only a spot on uppserside and no lines on its wings at all. From far enough an Orange Tip female looks kinda similar, but you'll notice difference when you get close enough.

cheers dave, i could just about tell it from a female OT, unfornutaely for this poor fella the Male OT's couldn't and repeatedly attempted to mate it

i got a pic of the female GVW upper and under so quite happy bout that.

turning into a good season for me, seen 7 or 8 species so far in the fields around my house and it's only april

Dave's absolutely right - this is a male GVW.

The number of sightings discussing male Orange-tips and their apparent "fondness" for "anything white" has really been apparent in the last few weeks!

Cheers,

- Pete

EDIT: Sorry - misread the message! Yes - a male GVW be interested in a female GVW wouldn't be unexpected!

really, hmm, I remember the GV white male I was photographing today kept flicking its abdomen as I got close to it, also did the same when a speckled wood male past it.

i think i know what you mean dave, like curling it up?

this one was also

Yeah, see my GV White image here: http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/phpBB2/v ... 178#p21178

yah that's exactly what it was doing