Butterflies

Hi everybody here are some of the pictures I took last week whilst on my spanish jollies.


Gatekeeper


Don`t know what this species is,could be a day moth of some kind


The wall


Haven`t a clue what these loved up two are.


Common blue


Common blue


Unsure about this one,thought it was a wall but notice the different spot arrangement.


The wall

I have some more pictures of bugs`n`things, including an unfortunate snake,on the bugs thread,hope you take a look.

 

Lovely pics Pip

 

great pictures pip

 

Fantastic pics pip!

 

The one below the two having a good time looks like a female common blue,last one maybe a small heath although the markings are similar to the speckled wood but the colouring isn't quite right.Pip can you go back and take a shot of the amourus pair with their wings open? fab pics.

 

Has any body else noticed the lack of butterflies this year?

I have seen a few but nowhere near the amount of different species usually seen by now. :(

 

It's been an odd year, here, too - some species late (notably the orange tips) and some species hardly there - while others like the swallowtail have been much more abundant. The scarce swallowtails, though, have hardly shown - and usually they're much more common than the "Common" Swallowtail - which generally isn't!!

Speckled Woods were early, though - and Walnut - you're dead right! Pip's last shot is the European Speckled Wood, which is orange and white instead of cream and white like the UK version. It's Pararge aegeria aegeria - the British one is P. aegeria tircis. (Just so's you know!!!)

The one that looks like a wall is a relative of the Hedge Brown - a Satyrid - and there are about thirty species! It looks most like Pyronia cecilia - not found in Britain - because of the underwing colours and the size of the orange patch on the upper side of the forewings....

The mating ones closely resemble Meadow Browns - but the twin spots on the hind wings aren't quite right. Satyrids, agan, but hard to tell which! I still think Meadow Brown is most likely, though...

Good crop of pix, though! And ain't it fun when they fly off just as you're about to press the shutter....! (Not!)

 

Thanks Hyla you know your stuff.

 

Thanks, Walnut! Have to confess, though, that since I used to sell wildlife photos I needed a good collection of reference books! And I must admit also that I hate seeing a plant or an animal and not knowing what it is!!!

 

Nothing common about this blue :D
We had a bit of fun with our pics.last year.

 

Beautiful Butterflies, Well Done Pip !

 

My first red admiral of the year,snapped earlier today.

 

Oh, pip, how do you do it? I've got lots of huge Monarchs at the moment but what I love is the Swallowtails.

PS Are you sure that's a Red Admiral?

[ 22. June 2007, 09:38 PM: Message edited by: Lady of Leisure ]

 

Hi LOL, we have not had a great deal of sun this month and the butter flies soak up every second,they are quite tolerant.

A lot of stalking/following also pays dividends.

It is definately a red admiral, made sure by looking it up in two reference books just to confirm what I already knew. Didn`t want to look stupid again.

I have only ever seen one swallowtail,I envy you being able to see them every day. Try and get a picture although I do know that they are very flighty and hard to photograph.

 

Sadly, I'm not seeing a great deal of butterflies but the bumble bees have increased and because my honeysuckle is right outside my bedroom window I'm enjoying trying to identify the moths at night.

TO