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Butterflies Page 33

Image Taken on 28 Sep 2024 at 13:13    Image of day on 11 Nov 2024

A late is season Speckled Wood Butterfly perched on a Blackberry leaf that has been the food source for some sort of caterpillars.


Ref: 20241111_d72_20240928_1313_099 speckled wood butterfly perched on caterpillar damaged blackberry leaf(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 15 Jun 2019 at 10:25    Image of day on 01 Aug 2019

Walking along the edge of the Wheat crop we found this Speckled Wood Butterfly perched on this Wheat stem.


Ref: 20190801_df5_20190615_1025_060 speckled wood butterfly perched on wheat crop stem(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 18 Apr 2015 at 14:54    Image of day on 09 Jun 2015

Our first Speckled Wood Butterfly of the year. They overwinter in Chrysalis form to emerge in Spring, unlike Peacock, Tortoiseshell & Brimstone butterflies that overwinter as adults, and can wake up very tatty and bleached.


Ref: 20150609_df3_20150418_1454_295 speckled wood butterfly recently emerged from chrysalis(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 15 Jun 2018 at 09:38    Image of day on 30 Jul 2018

A Speckled Wood Butterfly as we normally see them, wings at least partially open.


Ref: 20180730_df3_20180615_0938_080 speckled wood butterfly resting on blackberry stem(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 22 Oct 2018 at 13:06    Image of day on 14 Dec 2018

What may be the last Butterfly we see this year, sunning itself on an Autumn leaf. We assumed that these overwintered as adults like several other resident butterfly species, checked, and found that:-
    Speckled Wood - There are 2 - 3 generations a year and the
    butterfly can overwinter as either a caterpillar or as a pupa.



Ref: 20181214_df3_20181022_1306_031 speckled wood butterfly with 2 small bird pecks(r+mb id@576).jpg


Image Taken on 22 Apr 2019 at 12:27    Image of day on 20 May 2019

This is an overwintered Speckled Wood Butterfly - a bit tatty but not much faded. You can't see the bird peck on the rear of the far wing, totally by our choice of photo.


Ref: 20190520_da1_20190422_1227_013+1536_227_ft1 speckled wood butterfly with ground ivy (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 18 Sep 2008 at 11:03    Image of day on 05 Oct 2008

Speckled wood butterflies are the dominant butterfly species here this year - here on hawthorn.


Ref: 20081005_p34_20080918_1103_744 speckled wood butterfly with hawthorn berries (web crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg


Image Taken on 14 Jun 2023 at 15:26    Image of day on 09 Aug 2023




Ref: 20230809_da1_20230614_1526_043+1526_043_ft1 speckled wood butterfly with red campion flowers (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image of day on 07 Aug 2005

A slight tatty Speckled Wood butterfly on Blackberry.


Ref: 20050807_p20_1020815 speckled wood on blackberry 2005jul28_17-52-08(r+mb id@576).jpg


Image Taken on 09 Apr 2015 at 15:36    Image of day on 29 May 2015

We had noticed a Tortoiseshell butterfly chasing a peacock butterfly with amorous intent. Here on a Cherry tree the Tortoiseshell continued to make amorous advances on this totally unsuitable object of affection.


Ref: 20150529_df3_20150409_1536_266 tortoiseshell butterfly (right) courting peacock butterfly in cherry blossom (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 22 May 2022 at 10:45    Image of day on 30 Jun 2022

This Tortoiseshell Butterfly must have overwintered, and while faded and a bit pecked was still flying well, here re-fuelling on a Buttercup.


Ref: 20220630_df3_20220522_1045_101 tortoiseshell butterfly (very worn) feeding on buttercup(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 05 Jul 2017 at 13:53    Image of day on 23 Aug 2017

Next to each other on this Buddleia flower head a Small Tortoiseshell and Comma Butterflies quietly share the food for several minutes. Note the white 'comma' on the underside of the Comma Butterfly on the right that gives it it's name.


Ref: 20170823_df3_20170705_1353_190 tortoiseshell butterfly and comma butterfly sharing buddleia flowers(r+mb id@1024).jpg


Image Taken on 26 Aug 2007 at 11:20    Image of day on 19 Sep 2007

While 'yesterdays' dragonfly was hawking this butterfly came down to drink. We half expect the dragonfly to attack it (yes - they can catch & eat butterflies on the wing) but it didn't.


Ref: 20070919_d01_20070826_1120_194 tortoiseshell butterfly drinking from pond(r+mb id@576).jpg


Image Taken on 16 Jul 2019 at 13:30    Image of day on 05 Sep 2019

The camouflaged underside of the Tortoiseshell butterfly blends well with the foliage which the orange top side does not. Safer to feed like this then.


Ref: 20190905_df3_20190716_1330_010 tortoiseshell butterfly feeding from blackberry flower(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 24 Jun 2017 at 15:25    Image of day on 16 Aug 2017

An unusual good show of Tortoiseshell butterflies over the meadow includes this one with the proboscis down in a lump of moist soil, probably extracting useful minerals that it doesn't get from it's 'fuel' diet of nectar.


Ref: 20170816_df3_20170624_1525_022 tortoiseshell butterfly feeding from clump of moist soil(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 09 Jul 2021 at 15:09    Image of day on 18 Aug 2021

The Blackberry flowers are now abundant, and this Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly isn't going to skip the opportunity.


Ref: 20210818_d73_20210709_1509_105 tortoiseshell butterfly feeding on blackberry flower(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 25 May 2020 at 10:50    Image of day on 19 Jun 2020

While this Tortoiseshell Butterfly is feeding on a Blackberry flower the photographer has time to move round to get these two different perspectives on the same event. On the right you can see the proboscis reaching down into the flower.


Ref: 20200619_df3_20200525_1050_026+034 tortoiseshell butterfly feeding on flower (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 25 Aug 2013 at 17:45    Image of day on 16 Oct 2013

A pristine Tortoiseshell butterfly feeding on our trusty white Buddleia flowers. After several years of very low numbers it is nice to see several again.


Ref: 20131016_a77_20130825_1745_519 tortoiseshell butterfly feeding on white buddleia 3 of 4 (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 30 Mar 2014 at 12:19    Image of day on 11 May 2014

Considering that this insect is about 6 months old after winter hibernation, its in pretty good condition, here feeding on the blossom.


Ref: 20140511_df2_20140330_1219_006 tortoiseshell butterfly on blossom(r+mb id@768).jpg


Image Taken on 17 Aug 2012 at 16:15    Image of day on 25 Sep 2012

A Small Tortoiseshell butterfly finally appears. 10 years ago we had hundreds of these at once along the hedges enjoying the bramble flowers, but the numbers have gradually reduced to the odd sighting. We still have the bramble flowers - how little we understand of species dynamics.


Ref: 20120925_df1_20120817_1615_064 tortoiseshell butterfly on buddleia (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg


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