Butterflies

By Paul Cecil | Published October 2, 2008

It was a surprisingly good day for butterflies today. I got out at lunchtime and had walked only a few hundred yards when a flash of orange caught my eye. On closer investigation it turned out to be a small tortoiseshell butterfly. I took a number of shots of it, and this is one of the better ones.

Small tortoiseshell

I then wandered along one of the narrow paths along the edge of the woods. In the middle of the path I was greeted by a red admiral. It didn't hang around for long, so that's quite a snatched photo.

Red admiral

Just a few yards further, an oddly shaped flash of white went by me. It was not one, but two butterflies mating on the wing. What's more, they settled to, erm, continue their courtship. I'm going to risk the identification of 'large whites', but please correct me if I'm wrong.

Large whites mating

Those shots were all taken with the long lens. I was going to switch to the macro for more of the 'whites', but nature waits for no-one and by the time I'd changed lenses they were off.

The final shot today was actually taken last night. And it's not a butterfly, but a moth. Specifically, an angle shade moth. What's unusual – extremely unusual apparently – is that I managed somehow to photograph it while its wings were spread.

Angle shade moth with wings spread

Camera note: all shots taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens, except the moth which was caught in the Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG macro lens.

This entry was posted in Butterfly, moth and tagged , .

16 Comments

  1. Ukwildlife October 2, 2008 at 1:10 am #

    You know there certainly has been a surge in insects the last couple of weeks with the good weather. I heard that the tortoiseshell has had a late surge in numbers after the low numbers all summer.

    great photos 🙂

  2. gdare October 2, 2008 at 5:10 am #

    Red admiral :yes:

  3. Zephirine October 2, 2008 at 9:10 am #

    WOW :up: You're an expert with macro :yes:
    They're beautiful! 🙂 🙂

  4. Vulpes vulpes October 2, 2008 at 10:10 am #

    Great contrast background with the Angle Shades! :up:

  5. Words October 2, 2008 at 10:10 pm #

    Neil, the sunshine certainly helps a lot 😀 Funny about the toroisehells. I hadn't seen any all summer, and can barely recall seeing a painted lady either.

  6. Words October 2, 2008 at 10:10 pm #

    Darko, thanks!

  7. Words October 2, 2008 at 10:10 pm #

    Thanks Zephirine!

  8. Words October 2, 2008 at 10:10 pm #

    Vulpes, the angle shade was caught on the flagstones outside the backdoor. They're great when it's wet.. brings out their colour.

  9. cakkleberrylane October 3, 2008 at 12:10 am #

    Excellent shots!! Beautiful butterflies!

  10. Words October 3, 2008 at 7:10 am #

    Thanks Mark. and LOL!!!

    And have a great trip!

  11. Words October 3, 2008 at 7:10 am #

    Thanks Lois!

  12. Flying Red Fox Blog October 3, 2008 at 7:10 am #

    Lovelly photos 😀 I love Butterflies they are so beautiful. I like the way how you had *courtship* and *large* in that sentence…. 😆 I better wash my mind now…. 😛

    I added my announcement of going to Thailand on my blog now words, i can reply to your one on my mobiler internet hopefully, it will come up as anonymous but i will say its me. 🙂

  13. SittingFox October 4, 2008 at 10:10 am #

    That moth is very pretty (in a subtle way!) The temperatures seem to be dropping quite markedly now though so I don't know how much longer this insect revival is going to last!

  14. Words October 4, 2008 at 11:10 am #

    Adele, yes it's getting quite cold which limits the amount of time I'll hang out in the garden at night :smurf: But at least we're seeing some sunshine.

  15. Cynthia23 October 5, 2008 at 2:10 pm #

    Lovely Words!

  16. Words October 5, 2008 at 4:10 pm #

    Thanks Cynthia. After past 24 hours of constant rain I can hardly believe that was only a few days ago.