Tuesday 21 April 2009

Butterflies

We had two glorious days of sunshine and suddenly the butterflies were out in decent numbers.

Orange Tip males emerge before the females and set up territories along hedgerows and sunny banks. I'm always surprised by just how bright those wingtips are.


The underside is a mosaic of black and yellow scales that resemble moss or lichen. Good camouflage:


And here's the underside of a Green-veined White that also emerged on the same day:

5 comments:

Gill said...

Nice pics - I love that underside of the OT (is that the female? If not it's extraordinary how well the orange is hidden.

Aynia said...

Lovely pics. There've been a few orange tips in Wicklow but I can't get near them.. not even with a long lens. Also some 'whites', not sure if green veined or small white though. Saw a red Admiral on 19th March.

Stuart said...

Gill: The female OT's won't be out for just a little while (Cardamine isn't in flower at this location). Both pics are the same specimen.

Aynia: the males are very flighty. I only get a decent shot of them perhaps one year in three. They do quieten down afte a while, but they're not so bright then. The other opportunity is if you can find a freshly emerged one.

Gill said...

Sometimes the cold air of early morning or the evening makes them a bit quieter too - but they (and the gren-veined) are very flighty here too!

Yoke, said...

lovely pictures of the Orange tip and green veined white Butterflies.

down here in west Cork only seen 1 Small and 1 Large White, and a Small Tortoise.