Update: Jan has come to the rescue in the comments. It is a Small White, or Small Cabbage White. They're quite common so it shows how much I know about butterflies. Fortunately the only vegetables I've planted this year are carrots.
I love the internet.
It's that compound eye that draws me in. And the fragility.
It landed on the bathroom windowsill a few mornings ago and stayed there long enough for me to grab a camera and take some shots. Then it was gone, fluttering erratically towards the trees on the other side of the road. The photographs are worth clicking to enlarge - the digital camera was on form and I had a cooperative subject.
April's quite early in the year for butterflies. Or is it a moth? After searching reference books and online I've drawn a blank. Medium size, perhaps 50-60mm. Pale yellow wings with a mottling of brown. The closest possibility I've come across is a brimstone.
Maybe there's a lepidopterist out there?
Labels aren't everything, but I want to know.
12 comments:
Furrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry!
Well caught pics mm.
beautiful. i vote moth of some sort. i like the new blog.
Could be a brimstone - we saw one in Devon the weekend before. I'll have a word with my tame lepidopterist when he visits tomorrow and get a verdict!
Jan
HHB and Sky: thanks to you both.
Jan: That would be great. I didn't realise you had a tame lepidopterist!! :-)
Love how the antennae look bulbous at the end.
That is a beautiful photo, how wonderful that it stayed there long enough for you to take the picture. I don't know the name, I will check back to see if anyone else knows.
OK, Dick's pretty sure it's a male small white butterfly [though initially he thought it might be a brimstone]. He says the underside of the small white wings is yellow.
Result!
Jan
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_White
Quote "Its underwings are yellowish with black speckles.It is sometimes mistaken for a moth due to its plain-looking appearance."
Jan
Zhoen: Aren't they cool?
Starnitesky: It wasn't difficult. It was almost as if the insect was slightly dazed.
Jan: Thank you thank you. And D of course!
How lucky you were, to have a butterfly sit still for you!
Stella
gorgeous pics! like a fairy on your windowsill . . . did you get a sense of what magic follows her??? :)
Stella: Lucky indeed.
Kate: You read my mind. It did feel as though I'd been visited by fairy .....
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