www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Week 7

So continues sequence of posts giving one and all the opportunity to showcase their favourite shots of 2014 (or the last time you saw one)!

Please could I ask that everyone waits until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos? Of course our overseas members are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants. As like last year details of locations, dates, times and circumstances would be welcome as would any accompanying stories and anecdotes or other observations of behaviour and interesting other points.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

I find that photographing Whites can sometimes be frustrating; often the wings are over-exposed or the background is under-exposed (a consequence of using auto mode). This photo of mating Green-veined Whites was a favourite for me because the natural light conditions were just right.

This is one you would really never deliberately set out to see, but should nevertheless not be ignored as the variety across the broods is considerable in both sexes and on both upper and undersides. Here are my favourite shots, one from the spring brood (29th April) and one from the summer (6th July) They are both from my local patch near Heathrow, where they can be plentiful, and where I saw one as late as 19th November in 2011 .

Dave

This is an easy species to pay scant regard to.

I didn't point my camera at them very often at all this year. Most of the times when I did the images were unremarkable.

I did manage to photograph a mating pair at Crymlyn Burrows, on the Swansea Coast, on 21st April though:

My favourite photo was taken during a beautiful Spring walk on Otmoor, Oxon.

The air was full of the incessant calls of Chiffchaffs and many Whites and Orange Tips were enjoying the blossom lining the sides of the Roman Road.

I like the subtle colours in the background to this shot, formed from the Blackthorn bushes in the sunshine.
Mike

Most of my photos of Green-veined Whites this year were of spring brood examples, of which there were plenty about around all my local spots as well as regular visitors to my garden.

I particularly like this shot on Blackthorn Blossom, taken in mid-April at Castle Hills near Solihull,
A few more favourites taken in my garden during May,
and a mating pair at Bickenhill near Solihull,
Cheers,

Neil.

Down here, the GVW doesn't seem to like very dry conditions. I've learnt to look for residual damp patches which attract them. Chris

Green-veined White

This is my fave GVW from the year because f the composition. For a lot of my shots I crop and frame the butterfly in such a way that the actual size of the insect isn’t revealed. With this shot I always get a reminder of the actual scale of the butterfly. I also like it because it was taken on a bank at Sixpenny Handley football pitch during a few stolen moments on a trip to the park. There’s something about getting a snatched off-chance shot and it turning out well that makes it even more special. Have a goodun

Wurzel

This was one of those cool days on April 26th when the butterflies were on the wing every time the sun came out around lunch time. Other than that they were quite easy to approach if one could find them. This was taken in the woodland gardens at Bushy Park.
I was on a walk with my cousins and towards the end asked for 30 minutes to go and photograph butterflies. We caught up later at the tea room.
I have experimented a bit with the crop on this. I have a file of "desktop backgrounds" on my laptop which I sometimes update by adding or removing content.
kind regards,
Philip

What a splendid desktop, Phil. The crop suits the pic perfectly, the colours are fabulous, and it's really sharp - ticks all the boxes

Mike

I took these photo's in April, August and June, the Mating pair was taken at Hall-Lee-Brook 21st of April, the mating three some August 20th also at HLB and also at HLB the GVW on Buttercup 3ard of June, It was quite a good season for me at HLB Goldie

I reared a single larva from an egg in 2013 which overwintered as a pupa and emerged as an adult in April 2014.
The butterfly was a male with a beautifully marked underwing.
Full sequences are available here: http://www.dispar.org/reference.php?id=23

Vince