www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Happy New Year to everyone

It's rather fitting that we continue with the "Favourite Photos" thread into 2012 with the Red Admiral, of which there have been several sightings already.

This is a thread in which to post your favourite photo(s) of a particular species taken in 2011....................or the last time you saw one, and is part
of a series which will hopefully grow throughout the winter until all 58 British species have been covered. Three new threads will be introduced per week. Our overseas friends are welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to our rare migrants, but please try to observe the alphabetical listing

Details of places, dates, times and circumstances would be appreciated and please feel free to contribute observations of behaviour, personal encounters, anecdotes and other interesting points.

Vince

I took this photo in Blean Woods Aug 1st , I was looking for White Admiral when it landed right in front of me and i just snapped it , we were both suprised It was the start of a lovely holiday. Goldie M

I liked the light on the underside of this one. The cryptic colouring, including the "bird dropping" mark, is doubtless important for Winter survival.
Mike

I was up in York again at the end of August. The weather was kind and my sister's garden played host to a lot of Red Admirals. She is not one to discourage healthy growth of nettles and semi-wild Buddleia, nor quick to deal with the carpet of windfalls from her Victoria plum tree. Red Admiral heaven, in fact.

Here are a couple from 31st August.

Dave

this is my worst it should have looked like this

I was a bit worried that I wasn't going ot get many Red Admiral shots this year as they seemed few and far between. However towards the end of the season they seemed to be everywhere with one or two daily on the Ivy in my garden. This shot was taken at Stourhead late in the season with my ill-fated 70-300mm Sigma lens. And that's why it's my favourite - as it was the best shot that I got with the lens. Oh and I also liked the way the light caught it giving it an almost sculptured appearence. Have a goodun

Wurzel

Only took one atalanta photo this year, whilst waiting for the Brown Hairstreaks at Shipton Bellinger on 15th August...


(edit)... sorry make that 2... forgot about this beauty - warming up on a cool but sunny late summer weekend morning..

One of my favourite butterflies.

This pristine individual photographed on 3 October 2011.

I saw Red Admirals at quite a few of the places that I visited in the Midlands during the summer, usually one or two showing up with increasing numbers going into Autumn as reported in a number of threads on UKB.

I also saw more in my back garden than I remember seeing for a good many years, this being where the photos below where both taken.

The first one towards the end of July.
And the second one at the end of October on one of those fresh clear days that we had around then.
Cheers,

Neil F.

Now and again i like to experiment when taking pictures, most of the time i throw them out, but this is one i kept. It was taken with the white balance mode on tungston, hence the colour of the leaves. I like this one because of the camouflage this butterfly displays on this decaying tree stump.

Nick.

Last summer I reared two Red Admirals from larvae and was surprised to discover that I did not know as much about them as I thought I did. One of the surprises was the very sudden change in the colour of the pupa just prior to hatching. When I discovered this in the morning I took a series of photos in order to complete my species report. An adult emerged 3 minutes later, but unfortunately I had the camera hooked up to the computer and was downloading my photos at the time, so I failed to capture the event.
Another favourite from that batch was the unusual underside view taken before the new hatchling was released.
The full report is here: viewtopic.php?f=37&t=5672

Vince

Hi This is my favourite photo of a Red Admiral because it was the first AD I saw in 2011.

Looking though some of the photos that I took last year and noticed the one below of a Red Admiral taken at Fermyn Woods.
I did not notice before, probably too distracted by the Purple Emperor photos that I took that day, but it has small white spots in the red bands on the forewings.
I have checked through all my other Red Admiral photos and this is the only one that I have with this.
Cheers,

Neil F.

certainly a cracker.
Chris

Sadly, the white spot on the red band is not uncommon.... these are just 3 from recent years....

Hi nfreem,

I also have a similar photo of a Red Admiral, but mine has two white spots in the red band
on the right wing, and one on the left. I also have a photo which is the same as yours
with one white spot in the red bands, which i will post on my personal diary. Both photos
were taken 2011. Nick.

I've got spots too.

I read somewhere a figure of 1 in 6 for this form. It's certainly less frequent than the 'normal' form but given the general abundance of the butterfly it is something everyone will come across reasonably often.

Guy

Thanks for the replys,

I guess that this will be one of those things that now I have noticed it, I will be seeing examples all over the place

Does this form have a name or is it just considered to be within the normal range of variation?

Cheers,

Neil F.

I've never seen a name for this form. Vanessa atalanta f. albipunctata would seem apt.

Guy