www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Week 3.

Here is the opportunity to post your favourite photo(s) of a particular species taken in 2013 (or the last time you saw one!).

This is part of a series of topics which will grow over 20 weeks throughout the winter, eventually covering all 59 species which are regularly found in the British Isles. 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 members 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

Clouded Yellow

What a difference a year (or 9 ) makes! Last year I didn’t see a single Clouded Yellow yet this year I was spoilt for choice. I saw my first few at Stockbridge and they didn’t play ball. Then my next load were at Martine Down and I managed to get up really close to one which was battered and terribly worn. So by the time I got to Alners Gorse I reckoned that I was about due for some quality time. And so it proved to be with both male and female side on and backlit. Possibly due to the small size of the site along with the bounteous supply of nectar the Cloudies didn’t do their usual trick of flying huge distance with very brief stop offs. Instead they seemed to concentrate in an area flying only about 1 metre at most between feeding and were the most approachable I’ve found. This meant that I could get up nice and close for a few head shots including this one. It’s my favourite as you can rarely get this close to these Sulphurous speed bombs. Have a goodun

Wurzel

Now this was a fluke shot of form helice. I doubt if I'll ever get another one like it again, but this has raised the bar and given me a goal to reach. I can't wait for next season already - it might require some investment in better photo gear.
Chris

I've only seen four in south Wales this year, so haven't had many photo opportunities.

This one is probably my favourite, with the combination of yellow flower and yellow butterfly producing a nice, warm effect. It was taken in Pontardawe, 10 miles north of Swansea, on 14th September:

Chambers Farm Wood. Nice addition to a Brown Hairstreak day 14th August

It was an exceptional year for this species in Oxon and I enjoyed an afternoon in the 'Juniper Valley' on Aston Upthorpe Down in the company of well over a dozen individuals. They were tending to feed low down on Dwarf Thistles, Clover, and the like, so it was hard to get a photo free of foreground 'clutter'. The summery brilliance of this shot recalls a splendid day.
Mike

This year, not only did I take my first ever Clouded Yellow photos, I also saw more than I have ever seen before, mostly in Dorset when I was there in the first week of September

My first one however was an unexpected but very welcome surprise whilst I was up at Arnside for a few days in early August and for that reason is a bit special for me.
A month later I was in Dorset for a week and saw loads of Clouded Yellows, especially around Osmington and Ringstead Bay...
...including the pair below seen at Osmington Mills, the female of which was a helice, one of three of these that I saw during the week.
Whilst in Dorset I took a drive up to Alners Gorse where I saw more Clouded Yellows...
and had a go at taking some backlit shots...
I wasn't going to post the following shot again having already posted it in my personal diary a couple of times but although it is not a particularly good photo, it is a favourite of mine...lets face it, how often am I likely to get four Clouded Yellows in one shot
Cheers,

Neil.

Well, certainly a good year for this species, and not over yet by all accounts.

Without going looking for them at all, they appeared for me on my local patch both at the start of August and then in mid-September, and also turned up not far away at Bedfont Lakes Country Park. I also encountered a good number at Aston Rowant mixed with a myriad of other butterflies, and came across another down at Studland in Dorset.

My favourites have to be the first and the last, both local to me - and as I posted at the time, I like to believe that the former was the mother of the latter. Dave

I must admit this year was great for CYP as every one agree's but I have to stick with my opened winged one for my favourite this year because it was an unexpected suprise

I took the photo at Temple Ewell, Kent and I really do hope we get another Summer next year like we've had this year, I also can't resist putting another photo in as well just because it's a treat to see these Butterflies in such numbers like we did Goldie

I only managed two shots of CYs during this exceptional summer, but I like them both equally so can't choose a favourite:


Cherry Hinton, Cambs, 23-Aug


Therfield Heath, Herts, 31-Aug

It was nice to see these butterflies again on the Wiltshire Downs in 2013, the year before I perhaps saw one in a lowland area. The two images here are of females, one rested in a heavy rain shower among the leaves of a Woolly-headed Thistle where she was perfectly camouflaged.

Some great pictures above. This one is my favourite simply because it's the only one I saw stationary and able to be photographed! It was at Kithurst Hill on the 11th August. It had been flying around at top speed for a while but then the sun went in and it dropped out of the sky, luckily the friend I was with saw it land. When I posted it before there was some talk that it might be a helice because it's quite lemon in colour.
Cheers
John

My first sighting this year in the Alpes-Maritimes was in mid-April. There were still some around on October 31.

I like this one particularly for the colours of both the butterfly and the ciste:
I've seen and photographed several f. helice including this one:
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Colin

Beautiful photos Colin, and both of them being so fresh.

All the best, Nick.

Thanks Nick.
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Best regards,
Colin

I have Colin Knight to thank for pointing me in the right direction to find clouded yellow at Kithurst Hill and achieve my 43 species in my butterfly challenge

Something completely different, but one of my favourite photos i have taken this year.

That's a wonderful shot Hideandseek, I spent a lot of time searching in vain for Clouded Yellow ova, hoping to rear some, but despite spending several afternoons following females from a distance, I had no luck - very jealous !

Thank you for your kind comment William, appreciated. I was lucky enough to have reared this particular individual, and have photographed the life cycle of the Clouded Yellow from the ovum to the emergence of the butterfly, in this case a female. it was such a wonderful experience and hopefully one you will get to observe in the near future. I will be posting the photos of the event in my personal diary as soon as i have finished sorting them all out.

All the best, Nick.

Lots of great close-ups of clouded yellows posted here - not least Nick's pupal case - so here's something different. I photographed this one on the Suffolk coast, with Scots pines and a Martello tower in the distance, on 6th September:



Guy