Monday 28 May 2012

Allotment Female Orange Tip


Down on the allotment, I saw the first female Orange Tip of the year nectaring on the flowers of Comfrey and Chive. All of the Orange Tips I've seen so far this year have been male so this little lady was a welcome visitor. It provided a pleasant break from removing bindweed amongst the fruit bushes. 


The males have bold orange patches on the tip of each forewing, whereas the orange colour is lacking in the female which have similar upperwing markings to a Small White. Both male and female have the delicately mottled green and white pattern on the underwing.  

I also glimpsed a male Brimstone zipping around the hawthorn border but it shot off as quick as it appeared, well before I could grab the camera.

4 comments:

  1. You have the same effect on Brimstones as I do Linda ! They are the only Butterfly on my patch I have not got a photo of :-)

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  2. Nice shots Linda, yes the male Brimstones don't hang about. Hopefully, you can catch them later in the year when they have slowed up a bit.{:) which is what I hope to do.

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  3. Lovely photos Linda. I haven't seen a female Orange Tip all year. I often see males in the garden but they are easy to id at a distance with the orange wing tips. I've seen quite a few whites flitter through the garden but haven't got close enough views to identify!

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  4. Hello Warren, they're like rockets, only ever managed a couple of shots & non this year, fingers crossed for the both of us.

    Hello Roy, thanks very much, fingers crossed for all of us to get a decent Brimstone photo, lets see how we get on.

    Hello Caroline, yes I was starting to wonder where I was going wrong, but as you say they're harder to identify at a distance compared to the males.

    Thanks for visiting, best wishes Linda

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