Photographs and accounts of butterflies from around the world
Bees get a lot of good press these days, especially for their role as pollinators. And let’s face it, they deserve it! Hard working, unassuming, attractive and useful! They are almost supplanting those poster boys and girls of the insect world: butterflies! But what about flies? Their press is a mixed bag. To some people…
Thanatosis, or apparent death, is when an animal pretends to be dead! Lizards do it, opossums do it (‘playing possum’) and butterflies do it! The idea is to fool the pursuer into thinking you are dead, and hope that they will then leave you alone! Female butterflies sometimes do it to avoid the unwanted attentions…
Just as you think the butterfly season is coming to an end, some second generation individuals appear. I was very happy to come across these second brood Brown Argus (Aricia agestis) butterflies in Bedfordshire on 13 Aug 2019. In 1993, the Brown Argus was described as a scarce or local species, which had declined by…
Courtship in pierid butterflies, such as brimstones, is usually fairly brief, but can nevertheless, feature some interesting interactions. I happened across a short, unsuccessful courtship in this pair of common brimstones (Gonepteryx rhamni) in NW Spain (Galicia). There are relatively few accounts of courtship in this species; however, Adrian Hoskins – informative as ever –…
Whilst I was taking photographs of these beautiful Brimstone butterflies (Gonepteryx rhamni) nectaring on the little pink flower-pots of Bell heather (Erica cinerea), I noticed that they stopped when a cloud passed over. The day was relatively warm, but the site was on top of a small mountain, so when large clouds obscured the sun,…
It has been suggested that the Common Map butterfly (Cyrestis thyodamas) – also called the Oriental Map – relies for its survival on resting in an upside-down position (1, 2). Or creating the illusion of facing the other way. If this is indeed the case, then it is not so much a form of camouflage as…
Red Admirals love apples! Or more precisely, they like rotten apples and other wind-fallen or over-ripe fruit which has sat on the ground for a while and started to rot and ferment. What they seek of course, are the sugars and fermenting juices provided by these windfalls to help them to get through the winter,…
Last October (2017) I had the pleasure of spending a few days in a delightful bungalow at Malee’e Nature Lovers Bungalows; a delightful resort, nestled under shadow of Doi Chiang Dao, Thailand’s third highest mountain (2,175 m). The attraction of this temporary abode was that it overlooked a little wood, beside a stream (below). A quiet place where…
When I first came across this large spider, I wondered what it was doing with a piece of old leaf. Large Nephila spiders like this produce large asymmetric orb webs on which they sit, waiting for prey items to blunder into them. Amazingly, they construct these webs afresh every day, having consumed the old one to…
Last summer I made a number of visits to the Hotel Semáforo de Bares, an attractive location in NW Spain, with panoramic views over the sea and Cape Bares (Cabo de Bares) in Galicia. The hotel and grounds are located on the top of a granite hill (210m above sea level), with surrounding areas of…
Ray Cannon's nature notes 