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Butterflies Page 9

Image Taken on 12 Jul 2024 at 16:40    Image of day on 19 Aug 2024

An immaculate (brand new!) Comma Butterfly.
We might be able to persuade you that the insect is perched on a piece of shiny marble, but the reality is a pile of polythene covered bricks :-(


Ref: 20240819_r70_20240712_1640_094 comma butterfly pristine perched on plastic sheet(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 21 Jul 2024 at 15:28    Image of day on 31 Aug 2024

This is a Comma Butterfly - the white 'comma' appears on the other side of the wings. Our early years here only saw this butterfly in the autumn, feeding on rotting windfall apples. Delightfully we now spot that unique Scalloped wing edge at various times throughout the warmer months.


Ref: 20240831_r70_20240721_1528_043 comma butterfly pristine perched over duck pond(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 13 Sep 2014 at 12:35    Image of day on 24 Nov 2014

A Comma butterfly showing the dark bottom of the wing with the white 'comma', and a glimpse of the vivid orange top surface.


Ref: 20141124_df2_20140913_1235_574 comma butterfly showing both top and bottom of wings (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 15 Sep 2018 at 12:22    Image of day on 07 Nov 2018

The same Comma Butterfly, this one highlighting the gorgeous orange colour.


Ref: 20181107_df3_20180915_1222_013 comma butterfly showing top and underwing(r+mb id@576).jpg


Image Taken on 21 Jun 2022 at 17:37    Image of day on 08 Aug 2022

Not a trace of the 'Comma' on the top of the wing.


Ref: 20220808_d72_20220621_1737_084 comma butterfly showing top of wings(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 15 Sep 2018 at 12:22    Image of day on 07 Nov 2018

The same Comma Butterfly, this one highlighting darker underwing and white 'comma'.


Ref: 20181107_df3_20180915_1222_014 comma butterfly showing underwing(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 13 Sep 2020 at 12:31    Image of day on 29 Oct 2020

A newly emerged Comma Butterfly, here showing both the dark bottom of the wings with the white 'comma', and the vivid orange top of the wings.


Ref: 20201029_d73_20200913_1231_262 comma butterfly shows both sides of wings on ivy flowers(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 09 Sep 2016 at 08:57    Image of day on 28 Oct 2016

Before 9 a.m. on a mid-September morning some warm early sunshine brought out variety of insects into a east facing hedge.
A Comma Butterfly with it's proboscis is wheedling out juice from the ripe blackberry it is perched upon. You can just make out the white 'comma' as a semicircle on the lower (dark) side of the wing nearest to us.


Ref: 20161028_df3_20160909_0857_047 comma butterfly sipping juice from ripe blackberry fruit (crop 1)(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 19 Sep 2017 at 16:03    Image of day on 30 Oct 2017

A pristine Comma Butterfly warms itself on a blackberry leaf.


Ref: 20171030_df3_20170919_1603_042 comma butterfly sunbathing on blackberry leaf(r+mb id@1024).jpg


Image Taken on 26 Jul 2013 at 09:03    Image of day on 13 Sep 2013

The delicate on the delicate.
The tiny weight of this Comma Butterfly is about 0.25 gram (See Weights of Insects)
but this is sufficient to substantially pull down the grass seed head. The insect is photographed from below showing the left hand 'comma' but is back lit so you also see the orange pattern from the top of the wing.


Ref: 20130913_a77_20130726_0903_072 comma butterfly viewed from below perched on grass seed head with translucent wings (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 21 May 2019 at 14:59    Image of day on 22 Jun 2019

This overwintered Comma Butterfly has had a few pecks on the edge of the wings (symmetrically so the wings were closed at the time). This quite large butterfly then 'vanished' when finally closing it's wings - that irregular edge disguises the insect remarkably well.


Ref: 20190622_df5_20190521_1459_096+1500_102 comma butterfly with wings closed camouflaged as dead leaf 1+2 of 2 (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 02 Aug 2009 at 14:26    Image of day on 17 Sep 2009

This tatty individual is our first sighting of ANY 'blue' butterfly for 2 seasons. He never produced a good single top and bottom wing visible in a single shot, so here is a montage of a single flight about 1/4 seconds apart.


Ref: 20090917_da1_20090802_1426_078+_079+1527_175 ft1 common blue (q) butterfly (accurate montage approx 250ms apart) with clover (montage)(r+mb id@576).jpg


Image Taken on 26 May 2020 at 10:54    Image of day on 19 Jun 2020

Our first sighting this year of a Common Blue Butterfly, complete with a Buttercup providing scale.
This is a male - the upper side of females is brown. The black bar is not a marking but some sort of damage.


Ref: 20200619_d73_20200526_1054_016 common blue butterfly (1st of 2020) (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 25 Jul 2018 at 10:12    Image of day on 14 Sep 2018

This year has seen the numbers of this pretty little Common Blue Butterfly rise from an occasional one at a time to several in the hedge at once.


Ref: 20180914_df3_20180725_1012_025 common blue butterfly feeding on blackberry flower(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 13 Aug 2017 at 12:26    Image of day on 01 Oct 2017

This is a Common Blue Butterfly, for all that her wings are brown. You can see a blue haze of hairs over her body.


Ref: 20171001_df3_20170813_1226_088 common blue butterfly female (damaged right wing) feeding on knapweed(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 30 Jul 2014 at 11:11    Image of day on 12 Oct 2014

The female Common Blue butterfly has brown tops to her wings with a 'dashing' orange border the male does without. As you can see the species is very fond of feeding on ground level clover flowers that spring up after mowing.


Ref: 20141012_df2_20140730_1111_002 common blue butterfly female feeding on clover flower(r+mb id@576).jpg


Image Taken on 26 Aug 2019 at 12:06    Image of day on 21 Oct 2019

On one of the recently cut Field margins this opening Convolvulus (which sort of 'unfolds' origami style) attracts this Common Blue Butterfly for a feed. This is the only pic we got before it flew off into the adjacent hedge. Not 'Common' here at all.
The label is not a mistake - the female Common Blue Butterfly isn't blue on either side of the wings!


Ref: 20191021_df3_20190826_1206_010 common blue butterfly female on opening convolvulus (id only)(r+mb id@576).jpg


Image Taken on 20 Aug 2010 at 12:19    Image of day on 28 Sep 2010

Here you can see this female Common Blue butterfly reaching to the bottom of the flower rather than the more visible anthers it is standing on.


Ref: 20100928_db1_20100820_1219_203 common blue butterfly female side view on blackberry flower(r+mb id@576).jpg


Image Taken on 20 Aug 2010 at 12:16    Image of day on 27 Sep 2010

The female common blues do not usually display there brown upper wing surface in the way that the males do. Here we see her basking for a moment.


Ref: 20100927_db1_20100820_1216_113 common blue butterfly female top view on blackberry flower (crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg


Image Taken on 20 Aug 2010 at 12:17    Image of day on 28 Sep 2010

This one suddenly uncoiled her proboscis to reach into the nectaries of a bramble flower. We have never noticed one reaching out sideways like this before from one flower to reach another


Ref: 20100928_db1_20100820_1217_170+172+173 common blue butterfly female uncoiling proboscis to reach across to flower 1-3 of 3 (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg


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