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Brimstone - Favourite Photo of 2017

And so it begins...Starting this week the first opportunity to showcase your favourite shots of 2017! 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 go then!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Back to the last day of May for this one, and Wurzel's Wunderful Wiltshire Hill. Whilst looking mostly at Marsh Fritillaries late in the day I came upon a nectaring female Brimstone being persistently bothered by a male right down on a bramble at close to ground level. The duration of this encounter allowed for considerable fiddling with camera settings, and in amongst them was one that produced these two photos.Throughout it all, the lady nonchalantly kept on nectaring. The male is actually airborne in both shots.

Dave

On 22nd May this year I found 21 freshly laid Brimstone eggs on my potted Alder Buckthorn. This is one of the resulting pupae, which is 10 minutes away from producing a male butterfly.
Vince

Amazing shots by Dave and Vince. I'll keep the variety going with a pair of friendly cats, photographed on 6th June in my local woods:



Guy

Some absolutely superb images there Dave,Guy and Vince .Nice One !
Didn,t take too many shots of Brimstone myself this season ,but of the few I did take these were my favourites , the single is on
Vipers Bugloss ( Echium vulgare ) ,and the double shot is on Common Fleabane (Pulicaria dysenterica ).
Regards Allan.W,

Brimstones were for me a bit of a rarity this year. Spring numbers were significantly lower than previous years and, despite my regular day trips over south east England, I only managed two fresh summer animals.

Anyway this is my best attempt at an open wing shot. The next two are joint favourites simply due to them being photographed on the same day and could easily represent a 'father and son'

My favourite shot of a Brimstone, has got to be the very latest shot I took in my garden It was so unexpected and one of my best ever of a Brimstone. Goldie

This photograph is my favourite by default. It was the only Brimstone that I photographed in 2017 and its curious markings caught my eye.
Not a true aberration but the staining in the wings is pathological in origin; I am reliably informed that the cause is leakage into the membrane from damaged wing veins.

http://eastsussexwanderer.blogspot.co.uk

Isn't modern technology wonderful. Not so long ago, an open-wing shot of a Brimstone was almost impossible to achieve whereas now, with fast and accurate auto-focus and high-speed shooting, it only needs patience and the ability to point the camera in the right direction at the right time

My photo takes me back to a brilliant day in early Spring, when I shot loads of photos of Brimstones nectaring on a patch of Primroses, at my local Dry Sandford Pit reserve. Shooting at 10 frames per second, I soon ended up with a memory card full of pics, from which I kept 81, many of which provided excellent top-side views.

The one I have chosen is not, however, one of those but, instead, illustrates the mutual benefits provided by the relationship between the flower and butterfly. I learned about the different types of Primrose flowers, known as 'pin' and 'thrum', which facilitate transfer of pollen between flowers. The pollen grains can be seen clearly on the proboscis of the butterfly in my photo, which has gained its reward for the service offered to the flower in the form of nectar.
Mike

Some of the images on this thread put my own efforts in 2017 with this species to shame!!

In spite of the Brimstone being one of my favourite butterflies, I barely took an image of one at all this year.

I have to go back to March 26th to find this individual nectaring from a primrose at the foot of Kilvey Hill, Swansea:

It wasn't until I started looking back that I realised how few Brimstones I have seen this year...and photographed even fewer. One of the few that I did manage to take a photo of was slightly ragged round the edges female in my garden back in May.
Cheers,

Neil.

Brimstone

This was taken at a newish site for me; the Lavender Farm at Landford. It's my favourite mainly because because of the way the light caught the wings revealing the hair/scaliness of them and also showing up the nicely contrasting purple 'nicks' along the wing margins. The other reason it that it reminds me of a blissful afternoon with my family and of the delicious Cream Tea
Have a goodun

Wurzel

Very few Brimstones locally for the new brood so far so it was good to find one feeding on knapweed on 14 August at Norton Green Common.

ATB

Peter