Clouded Yellow Butterfly(female).

[Testudo Man]

This is the first time Ive seen a clouded yellow butterfly.
What was even more surprising, was the fact that this is normally a migrant from Europe, but as can be seen by my photos/account, this female had only just emerged. Whilst she was born/hatched here in the UK, no doubt the parent butterflies flew over from the continent, earlier on this year.

Since it was a great summer for butterflies, there have been numerous reports of clouded yellows in the UK, so this sighting is not that rare, and Im sure others may have sighted these beauties too.

Some photos, all shot using my FZ45 with 250 raynox attached. The pictures tell the story, cheers.



11th-August-2013. Female Clouded Yellow Butterfly (Macro). by Testudo Man, on Flickr




11th-August-2013. Clouded Yellow Butterfly, just emerged. by Testudo Man, on Flickr




11th-August-2013. Clouded Yellow Butterfly, just emerged. by Testudo Man, on Flickr




11th-August-2013. Clouded Yellow Butterfly, just emerged. by Testudo Man, on Flickr




11th-August-2013. Clouded Yellow Butterfly, just emerged. by Testudo Man, on Flickr

 

[RainMaker]

The first one - I like it most. Second one has beautiful colours. Lovely set, thanks for sharing.

 

[heidfirst]

The photos are good but I do wish that you had left it alone.
Butterflies wings are very prone to damage/malformation during hardening.
You may well have interfered with it's ability to breed or even survive.

 

[Testudo Man]

The first one - I like it most. Second one has beautiful colours. Lovely set, thanks for sharing.

Thanks for your comment.

The photos are good but I do wish that you had left it alone.
Butterflies wings are very prone to damage/malformation during hardening.
You may well have interfered with it's ability to breed or even survive.

Cheers for that.

I understand your concern for this butterfly, and im fully aware of just how delicate they can be(especially their wing area). I was, and am always very careful when handling butterflies. I dont ever net them, i dont grab them, i offer a warm hand...they climb aboard(sometimes!).

When I found this fresh female, she was being persued by at least one male, since she was not fully formed, she was being roughed up by the male(I have photos of this) she was crawling through the long grasses and being out in the open with a strong wind, she was taking a battering(far more potential damage) than just "drying out" hanging from my finger.
Within a short time, i placed her on a plant stem(out of the wind, in the sun).

As you know, males are relentless, as myself and my young son sat down for lunch, before we had time to finish our lunch, sure enough, along comes a male and knocks her from the plant stem, they couple up/mate, and I place them back on the stem. They stay mating on the stem for at least half an hour, which is where we left them to it.
I obviously took photos of this whole episode(from start to finish) and can say that it was a facinating experience to witness(especially for my young son)...who knows when we will get to see clouded yellows up close like this, once again in the UK.

Cheers Paul.