Macro Moments: Two Red Admirals and a Peacock

Two Red Admirals and a Peacock….. which are the butterflies I photographed in the garden this afternoon. This is my offering this week for Susan’s Macro Moments Challenge: Week 7,  which is a link well worth a click.

Before I became interested in butterflies a few years back, I had grown up convinced that there were only two sorts in UK:  there were big white ones and there were Red Admirals. When I retired and started doing macro photography, I was amazed stunned  flabbergasted to find out that there are 57 species in the British Isles. So far I’ve probably seen around fifty of these and I love them all.

This afternoon in the garden there were Red Admirals, Peacocks, Green-Veined Whites and a Small Tortoiseshell.  All this in a small garden within a couple of hours after lunch.

Whilst there is a small resident population of Red Admirals in The British Isles, mostly are migrants:

Starting each spring and continuing through the summer there are northward migrations, which are variable in extent and timing, from North Africa and continental Europe. The immigrant females lay eggs and consequently there is an emergence of fresh butterflies, from about July onwards. They continue flying into October or November and are typically seen nectaring on garden buddleias or flowering ivy and on rotting fruit. – Butterfly Conservation

Red Admiral ©HelenBushe 

Red Admiral  Drinking Nectar ©HelenBushe 

There was a Peacock Butterfly enjoying the reflected warmth from the wall of the house as well as the sun on its back.

Peacock Butterfly ©HelenBushe

 

The Peacock’s spectacular pattern of eyespots, evolved to startle or confuse predators, make it one of the most easily recognized and best known species. It is from these wing markings that the butterfly gained its common name. Undersides of the wings are very dark and look like dead leaves. A fairly large butterfly and a strong flyer. Butterfly Conservation

 

Peacock Close-up ©HelenBushe