Wednesday 18 July 2012

BUTTERFLIES ON A SUMMERS DAY!






Yeeeh-haaa  we've had summer.. well one day... last Sunday, it was mostly sunny and warm (if a little windy) and the nearest  we've had to summer in what seems to be a long time...AND NO RAIN!!

I decided to make the most of it and go in search of some butterflies. I went to an area where I've found a good variety of butterflies in previous years, Incombe Hole in Buckinghamshire.

There were a few different species on the wing but nowhere near  the amount , in numbers, as I've seen before.


 
Small Heath, as usual, were  settling low down in the grass and making photography rather difficult.
Male



Meadow Brown
Male

Female

 Marbled White
Male

Male
 And I'm still trying to get a decent image of a Marbled White!!


Large Skipper...I only saw this one!

A male...note the dark sex-brands in the centre of the wings.

 And the one species I was hoping to see...Dark Green Fritillary. I found about ten of these nectaring on a large patch of thistles.

Male

Male

Female

The dark green colouring on the underside of the wings gives this butterfly it's name.

And I also saw quite a few Ringlet and one each of Red Admiral and Small White. And rather worrying I didn't see a single 'blue' butterfly all day!

And a video...



14 comments:

Mike said...

Absolutely great series of butterfly images!

holdingmoments said...

What a summer!

That Fritillary is a beauty. Next few rays of sunshine I must get over there. Never seen one before.

Nor a Small Heath, come to think of it.

The Herald said...

Thanks Mike...[;o)

Summer, what's that!!

We'll go and have a look when the weather perks up!!...[;o)

FOREST SNAPPER said...

Lovely pictures Trevor,very well captured.

peter ps i like your header

ADRIAN said...

I've been looking for a dark green fritillary for years. a stunning butterfly. Many thanks.

The Herald said...

Thanks Peter...[;o)


Cheers Adrian, they sure are great to see, I hope you manage to find some 'in the flesh' soon...[;o)

Bob Bushell said...

Brilliant Trevor, Dark Green Fritillary is number 1, I am one that hasn't seen one.

The Herald said...

Thanks Bob.
The D G Fritillary is a beautiful butterfly to see, hope you get to see one before too long...[;o)

ShySongbird said...

Hi Trevor, That is obviously a very good place to go. A lovely selection of flutters and beautiful photos of them!

You had much better weather than we did on Sunday. I too went looking for the DGF where I know it should be but apart from a brief glimpse or two the promised sun didn't come out properly until 7.45pm!!! So no good whatsoever :-(

By the way I can't see anything wrong with your Marbled White photo whatsoever :-)

The Herald said...

Thank you Jan, yeh it's normally a great place to find large numbers of flutters but sadly not so far this year!

As for the Marbled White photos I still feel I've not done it justice yet, I'll keep trying!!

With the promise of some good weather just around the corner!!! hopefully you will find 'your' DGF's soon...good luck!...[;o)

Gary Jones said...

Hi Trevor, just come across your blog, amazing images and need to spend some time looking back, following you now and added to my blog list. Regards Gary

The Herald said...

Hi Gary, welcome and thanks for stopping by.
I'm glad you're liking what you see, and thank you for the kind comments...[;o)

Ruby said...

Stunning images of butterflies Trevor! xoxo Ruby

The Herald said...

Thank you Ruby...[;o)