Photographing Brimstone uppersides
Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2009 10:20 pm
Some years ago the BBC Natural History Unit at Bristol asked me to supply them with some Brimstones which they wanted to film through a quartz lens to see the U/V markings as seen by other Brimstones. They wanted to photograph the uppersides and I stated categorically that they would only pitch with wings closed. they said they would try anyway and shone a 500 watt lamp through a heat filter onto them. Lo and behold they opened their wings wide and sat there basking. I have tried this with a powerful light from a slide projector to no avail. In order to get some uppersides of Cleopatra the continental Brimstone I set the camera on 3 frames per second and tickled them with a twig in a netting cage and got a few shots as they opened their wings to fly. Female Brimstones will also open their wings as a male is fluttering above them ready to pair.