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Brimstone - Favourite Photo of 2015

Starting this week the first opportunity to showcase your favourite shots of 2015! 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.

Here we got then!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Early spring in the Rhône Valley. A small, black insect finds the perfect place to sunbathe:



Guy

At the risk of copying Guy's opener, here's one I took back in April. I'd decided it would be my entry on this thread shortly after taking it, the only disappointment was I missed the large Greenbottle sharing the wing by about 5 seconds! The Brimstone took exception to such a large freeloader and flicked him off, this little midge however was made of sterner stuff and clung on long enough to get this snap

Striking difference of colour, found this chap whilst looking for Marsh Fritillary Larvae in Mid-Cornwall this September.

This is the only Brimstone I managed to photograph this year, which makes it my favourite
Also these freshly emerged larvae from eggs laid in the garden.

Probably my most memorable Brimstone day this year was 2nd August down at Botany Bay while really looking at second brood Wood Whites. I have never seen so many in one place. However, my favourite photo was taken a few days earlier (30th July) on my home patch. The sun went in and I watched this individual dive for cover - and just disappear. I did track him down... Dave

Found this one sitting quietly in very windy weather at Whixall Moss, where I was hoping to find large Heath ova (no luck, sadly). One of the very few I saw this year .
Tony M.

I took my photo at Mere Sands near Southport on the 16th August, I was quite a long way from the Butterfly has it was in a field and I was on the other side of an edge so I was really pleased with the out come of the shot. Goldie

WARNING! Extreme colour-clash!... chap from a visit to a plant nursery and gardens in Norfolk in August.
This female, snapped a couple of weeks ago, is still active in my garden on sunny days during this indian summer we've been having.

Didn't take too many images of Brimmies in 2015. Will have to rectify that next year.

This elderly male was spotted at Alun Valley, near Bridgend, on 14th June:

Not my favourite species to photograph - (it bugs me that they won't spread their wings) - but I try and take a couple each year.

These are both of this years specimens - taken in Holmsley Inclosure in the New Forest - the Dandelion was 18th April, the Thistle was 28th July.

My favourite photos of this species this year were taken in May at Harbury in Warwickshire when I saw a female fluttering around a small buckthorn and stopping frequently to lay eggs on the new leaf buds.
Cheers,

Neil.

ayjay wrote:Not my favourite species to photograph - (it bugs me that they won't spread their wings)...

They often do when engaged in courtship activities, Ayjay (same with Cleopatras).

found this quite fresh Brimstone on August 22nd in Norfolk, wings still slightly crumpled. Eric

Brimstone 22-03-2015

This was my favourite Brimstone shot of the year and was also my first. I just like the colours displayed on the wings and body with the hind wing lime and the fore wing lemon (on the veins in particular) and lime and then the contrasting purple and blues on the fur on the body. This shot represents one of the few that I took this year, not because they weren’t in ready enough supply but because I seemed to focus more on other species this year, possibly at the expense of those bread and butter species. Craziness really; when you see the wonder of the common Brimstone – it certainly isn’t just a yellow butterfly! Have a goodun

Wurzel

One of many Brimstones seen at Tugley Wood, Chiddingfold on July 18th 2015

My Brimstone photo was taken in Hatfield Forest on 21 July. I was at least 5 metres away and managed to capture the butterfly with its wings slightly open.

ATB

Peter

My favourite was taken at Otmoor, Oxon during August./ I like the way in which the light has emphasised the veins on the wings in this shot:
Mike