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Large White - Favourite Photo of 2016

Week 9

Week nine and the countdown to Christmas has started in earnest - I think that BC have missed a trick - an advent calendar with butterfly shaped chocolates - that would certainly draw in a few more initiates Please could I ask that everyone waits until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos - just to make it easier to organise and keep everything on track so that we can enjoy this throughout the winter months? 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 had loads of LW's in my garden this year, it was one Butterfly that seemed to do well in the North.
I think my favourite photos are the ones I took in my own garden on the 31st of June and the 11th September
although they were plentiful through May I preferred these shots. Goldie

I find getting decent photos of this butterfly are a challenge. This is a shame as it can be quite a size - specimens like this always seem to be in flight!

My sister's garden in Yorkshire is a very reliable spot - the buddleias are always festooned with adults, and it is just a short hop down to the many nasturtiums. On 22nd July I witnessed some interesting courtship behaviour, with the female stoutly rejecting the male, but being comprehensively trampled on nevertheless. Dave

That's one hell of a sequence, Dave!

Never seen that before.

Several Pierids behave like this - brimstones being a notable example. I can only imagine that the female wastes less energy being trampled than by trying to escape on the wing. Eventually, the male must give up. She can then get on with her life's mission.

Guy

Taking my lead from Dave's excellent sequence, here's a courting couple which ended up in a successful pairing observed on my local patch. Unfortunately it all happened high up so no closeups.

I feel rather embarrassed returning to the standard 'butterfly on a stick' photo after such excellent contributions from millerd and bugboy, but that's all I got. This one from late July in my home village in Notts.

Managed to get semi open-winged shots of both male and female this year, perhaps because this was one of only a tiny number of species that fared reasonably well in 2016:

Most of the Large Whites I saw in 2016 were actively patrolling and so consequently I took very few photos, none of them particularly good. The shot below of a semi open winged male in my garden was about the best I managed.
Cheers,

Neil.

Nice series of shots, Dave.

This year I managed the uppers and unders of the same individual from May 31st, south of France.
Female : Chris

Was lucky enough to find a couple of pairs,in September at Reculver country park (Kent),a brilliant site this! really large numbers of both Large and Small whites on the wing,plus 5-6 Clouded Yellows (always a good site ) and good numbers of Holly Blues around the towers perimeter wall (covered in ivy)and also loads of Elm sucker growth,i really must go there earlier in the season........ you never know ,..... White letters ! regards Allan.W.

Large White

This was taken near my place of work back in mid-May. It’s my favourite for two reasons. First it was taken during a quick trip out during my lunch break to a new area. Unfortunately I was one of only four butterflies seen and so was actually the ‘highlight’ of the visit. The second reason is that it’s the closest of gotten to a fully open winged female shot as they normally feed with wings tightly shut. Have a goodun

Wurzel

This species never features highly in my photo list - it's a bit 'common', difficult to photograph, and a garden 'pest'. A closer look, however, reveals some quite subtle markings on the underwings.
Mike