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Image-of-the-Day by Subject
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.
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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.
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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.
.jpg)
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.
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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.
.jpg)
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.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
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.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
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
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
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.
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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.
 courting peacock butterfly in cherry blossom (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg)
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.
 feeding on buttercup(r+mb id@768).jpg)
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.
.jpg)
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.
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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.
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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.
.jpg)
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.
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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.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
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.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
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.
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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.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20120925_df1_20120817_1615_064 tortoiseshell butterfly on buddleia (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg
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