Nature's Catwalk

This weekend nature finally left her inhibitions on Friday's doorstep, when invertebrate fashionistas came to the same conclusion as this year's fashion designers in deciding that bold colours are what ought to be worn this summer.

A Small Tortoiseshell, experimenting with her terracotta forewing against the yellow petals of a Cat's Ear, stole the rainbow show but was run close by a female Common Blue whose pixilated shades of the sea dazzled under a Saturday sun.

Later in the day she was caught with an unknown male, drunk on sap, mesmerically whirling in a near vertical column recreating a Lepidopteran version of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

 

Not to be overshadowed by the faunal frisson, Opium Poppies drove skywards, slowly and noiselessly. Colour and symmetry synergistically combining to lure in passing hoverflies.

Icing Sugar Dusting

Despite diligent field excursions, sightings of butterflies uncommon remained a few days away and, it is safe to say, a few degrees south thanks to the weekend weather. As innocent blue skies thrashed at the persistent cloudlets today, I spotted the gregarious green-veined white male, delicately fluttering on a whispering breeze, where he finally settled to catch a breath on a bramble leaf.

His wings in the early season can frequently be devoid of any dark marks, as seen in this photo, setting him aside from species of other whites. Fulwood Rd folklore dictates that green-veined white males often spend too much time under the icing sugar and sieve of Mrs Rung when she is in the process of cake making, with an ambition to get the desired dressing of sugar dust on their forewings for the summer flutter. Mission accomplished Sir!

The underwing of the GVW has lightning bolts of mossy green veins that invigorate an otherwise colourless complexion. A complexion which I tried and regrettably failed to capture, when on bended knee I pointed the clicker at a permanently nodding ranunculus specimen (the species of which I did not care to investigate after a sports team of clicks).

Sunday Snoozing

On a grassy nook in South Liverpool a few fairly fresh female Common Blues snooze on spent dandelions. This was one of them.

Speke Hall Frolics

First Comma of the year

Net at the ready

Underwing showing characteristic white 'C' for Comma marking!

Martha was not impressed when she was placed inside the butterfly net!

Solar delight pitted itself against whirling winds today providing us with suitable temperatures for butterfly catching at Speke Hall. Martha thoroughly enjoyed herself and only cried when there was an absense of butterflies; as a corollary of this we managed to collect quite a few flutterering friends to keep her sweet; seven species in all! Martha saw a Speckled Wood, Common Blue, Small and Large White, Green Veined White, Peacock and a Comma. The latter being her favourite as it hung around on the manicured grass we sat on whilst we all chatted away.

National Trust Adventures (1/5/11)

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Fritillary

Speckled Wood

Spent the day at Lyme Wood. Plenty of time to geo-cache, look around the grounds and take some snaps!

Camping Weekend (30/4/11)

Green Hairstreak

A green hairstreak spotted during our walk up to Mam Tor. One of its feeding plants is gorse which this little fellow was flying close to.

Avid Ramblers

Catching a breath on top of Mam Tor with Castleton in the distance.