www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Here is the opportunity to post your favourite photo(s) of a particular species taken in 2012 (or the last time you saw one!).

This is part of a series of topics which will grow over 20 weeks throughout the winter until all 59 UK species have been covered. The intention is to showcase three species per week (in alphabetical order), so please wait until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos. Our overseas friends are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants.

Details of locations, dates, times and circumstances would be welcome and please feel free to contribute observations of behaviour, stories of personal encounters, anecdotes or other interesting points.

Vince

Ringlet
This is my favourite Ringlet shot of the year as it was one of my first at the end of June. I was just starting to think it’s about this time of year for Ringlets to be appearing when I realised that I had to drop my daughter at a Rainbows meet at Old Sarum. Serendipity or what! So daughter off rampaging round the old stone monuments I set off round the rings with camera in hand.
After a few steps along the top of the rings the evening sun went in behind a cloud and didn’t really appear again for the rest of the evening. With it went the butterflies so I thought because as I wandered along the bottom of the rings I saw only one butterfly – a single Large Skipper. True there were plenty of Tiger Moths around but no butterflies.
About half way round I hauled myself up out of the bottom of the rings and looked across towards the Devizes road. The rings are more wooded here and the vegetation is more sheltered and so more lush and verdant. It was then that I caught sight of a chocolatey butterfly flapping forward and back. It was shortly joined by another and another, in fact there were several all in this little area. So after a dreary trek I was rewarded with my first sighting of the year for the butterfly I was hoping to see. Have a goodun

Wurzel

Ringlet had a pretty good year around these parts. A small selection here of some of my favourite shots from Cradle Hill and Botany Bay.

as mentioned in my diary at the time, this Ringlet is the first that has stopped to feed on anything other than bramble in my garden.

This species is particularly attractive when fresh. Unfortunately, they're so common that one tends to ignore them except for very early in their flight period when they are a welcome addition to the other species already emerged:

My favourite comes from a visit to Ryton on 7th July. The day started fine, but ominous clouds gathered and soon nothing was flying in the gloomy drizzle except Ringlets.

Dave

My favourite photo was taken in East Blean Woods July 2nd. There are so many there, your spoiled for choice Goldie

My shropshire ringlet on a rainy day in July.

Debbie

Ringlets were on the wing in profusion at some of the places I visited during July 2012 and could usually be found on all but the wettest days. On a number of occasions we would still see them flying in drizzle and light rain which was all to common last year.

I am still wanting a good photo of a fresh example that captures that soft velvet look with the white fringes to the wings and that will be one of my targets for the coming year...again.
In the meantime a few below that I quite like.
Cheers,

Neil.

nfreem wrote:Ringlets were on the wing in profusion at some of the places I visited during July 2012 and could usually be found on all but the wettest days. On a number of occasions we would still see them flying in drizzle and light rain which was all to common last year.

This is why they prospered in 2012. A butterfly that can operate in dull and damp weather.

Meadow Browns did well too for the same reason.

A damp and dreary day at Southwater found this little critter sheltering from the rain

I visited Broxbourne Woods (Herts) on 17th July, and found large numbers of Ringlets alongside the footpath by Highfield Wood. This one was resting in fairly deep shade, and seemed completely unconcerned by my presence. I thought I'd try an underside shot, lit with a touch of fill-in flash. This is something which I hardly ever use through fear of overdoing it, and I was pleasantly surprised at how it turned out.

Paul