Green-veined White - Favourite Photo of 2015

[Wurzel]

Green-veined White - Favourite Photo of 2015

Week 7

So continues sequence of posts giving one and all the opportunity to showcase their 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.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

GVW had a bit of a mixed year on my local patch with reasonable number early in the year giving way to relative scarcity towards the end. A mating pair on the 27th August cheered up my perspective, however.

Dave

[Chris Jackson]

This individual was off to a hard start in life with major wing problems.
Photo taken on March 26, South of France:

Chris

[Goldie M]

I decided on two GVW photos because this year wasn't too good for them, I took the first at my local haunt Hall-Lee-Brook on the 13th May in-between lots of showers, they were few and far between because it rained most of April and May this Year so compared to last year where we loads of Orange Tip's has well has Green VW's I saw no Female Orange T's at all and very few GVW's so it doesn't bode very well for next year.

My second photo was taken in Blean Woods on the 2nd of August again very few seen Goldie

[downland boy]

A moment of magic as larva starts its final moult.

[bugboy]

Like a lot of people, I saw there's often in the spring before they practically vanished over the summer and autumn.

I watched this fresh male find this female and after some fluttering, fly off with her on a day that was otherwise rather bereft of butterflies. Being otherwise engaged they allowed me a nice range of photographs

[Goldie M]

Your photo is lovely Bugboy typical of a Spring day , I love it Goldie

[Neil Freeman]

I nearly always seem to take most of my Green-veined White photos in my garden and tend to overlook them whilst out and about, probably because I am usually looking for something else.

A couple of Spring brood shots taken in my garden,

Green-veined White - Coverdale 09.05.2015

Green-veined White - Coverdale 15.05.2015

A summer brood, again taken in the garden,

Green-veined White - Coverdale 17.08.2015

and another summer brood one taken in the park by my Moms house,

Green-veined White - Langley Hall 31.07.2015

Both Spring and Summer emergences seemed to be in good numbers but the summer brood seemed to fizzle out earlier than in previous years.

Cheers,

Neil.

[David M]

I too am guilty of overlooking this species, but given how scarce they've been in late summer this year, I may well pay more attention to them in 2016.

I tend to only concentrate upon them on their first emergence in spring, and this is a male captured on 11th April in Dan-y-Graig cemetery in Swansea - the first image I managed of the year for this butterfly:

[MikeOxon]

I always feel that this species looks its best when back-lit, so this photo, taken at Otmoor, Oxon., is a favourite:

Otmoor, Oxon - 6th August 2015
Olympus E-M5 with 40-150 mm lens - 1/400s@f/6.3 ISO400

Mike

[Wurzel]

Green-veined White

Thus was taken at Five Rivers and is my favourite for three reasons. First it seemed not to be a good year for them. Some years there are so many I almost don’t bother taking any photos of them unless they present themselves to me. This year however by following the same procedure I would have been lucky to have captured any. Second it’s one of the most strikingly marked under side that I’ve seen – almost blacked veined (that would be nice). Third the pose. Feeding away it was oblivious to all around it, head buried deep within the flower.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

...it seemed not to be a good year for them.

So true, Wurzel.

I've never known such a dearth of GVWs, in spite of 2015 being (at least in my part of the UK) largely cool and damp.

No doubt the species will defy any pronouncements of its demise by returning in stratospheric numbers next year!

[celery]

Not much to add. Scarce round these parts this year too...

Green-veined White (Pieris napi) - Sherwood Heath, Ollerton, Notts. - 18th July, 2015

[EricY]

GV white @ Dungeness end of May

I rotated this & cropped to eliminate the stick it was on. taken @ Dungeness end of May. Eric

[Vince Massimo]

I reared 3 larvae from eggs laid on 23rd April. Two adults emerged and were released on 10th June. The remaining pupa is still alive and seems to be over wintering.

This larva had just moulted into its fourth instar. The old skin and head capsule are both still visible.

Green-veined White larva emerging from moult - Crawley, Sussex 24-May-2015

The pupa on this occasion was the attractive green form.

Green-veined White pupa (5 hours before emergence) 10-June-2015

Vince