Peacock - Favourite Photo of 2012

[Vince Massimo]

Here is the opportunity to post your favourite photo(s) of a particular species taken in 2012 (or the last time you saw one!).

This is part of a series of topics which will grow over 20 weeks throughout the winter until all 59 UK species have been covered. The intention is to showcase three species per week (in alphabetical order), so please wait until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos. Our overseas friends are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants.

Details of locations, dates, times and circumstances would be welcome and please feel free to contribute observations of behaviour, stories of personal encounters, anecdotes or other interesting points.

Vince

[Wurzel]

Peacock
This is my favourite shot of Peacock this year taken in mid August in my garden. It was a warm day so I sat outside and did some work... Well I tried to do some work as I’d get a start on and then something would catch my attention so I’d stalk it with my camera. This shot was achieved by elbow crawling, Commando style, the entire length of the lawn. I like the look of the shot because the butterfly looks belligerent and slightly p@**ed off by the nearby Small Tortoiseshell and whites which kept vying for my attention.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[MikeOxon]

It is always a delight to find a Peacock early in the season, so this remained a favourite throughout the year:

Dry Sandford Pit, Oxon SU468994 - 26th March 2012
Nikon D300s with 300f4+1.4X TC - 1/1000s@f/5.6 ISO400

Mike

[CFB]

I only managed to take photos of two Peacocks in 2012. This is the first, at the beginning of March, taken using a Canon PowerShot S100 (1/320s, f/4.5, ISO 80).

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Colin

[Goldie M]

My favourite butterfly pic of a Peacock was taken at Birkdale Sands Southport. It's an old Quarry area, I say Quarry But it's because of the amount of stones dumped there which as formed quite a good place for Butterflies.
The sloping sides full of differant flowers has become some thing of a sheltered harbour from the wind and the sea. The place was used for making cement at one time, the lorries carried sand off the beeches, all this stopped a couple of years ago and the building and machines have gone leaving the area to the elements. When I was there i saw loads of Small Tortioseshell BF also Peacocks and know it's a good place for the Wall because of the slopes, i've yet to get a good shot of them yet, maybe this year I will Goldie

[Neil Hulme]

The 8th August was a good day for Peacocks in Sussex, as the delayed summer emergence commenced. I found about half a dozen males in a rough meadow at the base of Cissbury Ring, one of which was so fresh it was barely capable of flight. As always they started to tuck themselves away for the winter pretty rapidly, so they seemed to melt away within a couple of weeks.
Neil

[nomad]

This is my favourite shot of a peacock because it was my very first butterfly of the year. The inner Iron-age camp at the top of Martinsell Hill in Wiltshire was a sheen of golden dandelions. This peacock was enjoying some long earned nectar in the february sunshine after its long winter rest. The background in my photo is messy but the dandelions were very low growing. Sussex kipper I Love your photograph. Peter. attachment=0]329.JPG[/attachment]

[millerd]

For me, my favourite Peacock was the first butterfly of the year I came close enough to photograph, seen on 26th February near the River Colne. I had seen a Red Admiral flying the previous day, but this felt more like the end of the winter.

It is of course only about seven weeks till that date, now...

Dave

[David M]

A stunning butterfly that one never tires of seeing.

However, it is particularly welcome in spring, although it is usually a bit more sleepy than its relatives, Comma, Small Tortoiseshell and Red Admiral.

I'd seen all the above as well as Brimstone by 11th March last year, so spotting a Peacock became something of a pre-occupation.

Thankfully, I had my first audience on 24th March in a sheltered 'hotspot' near where I live, and it remained the best image I got of this species all year:

[Neil Freeman]

Ah yes, Peacocks, I remember back in March of last year, when other people were seeing Brimstones and Small Tortoiseshells, that it was all Commas and Peacocks for me. Despite seeing good numbers around this time, I did not manage to take a photo that I was really happy with.

As others have commented, the summer brood was late arriving, in fact I saw my first one locally over 4 weeks later than in 2011. I visited shadowbrook meadows during the second weekend of August and saw a number of freshly emerged examples and returning the following weekend there were even more.

As usuaI, I have a number of 'favourite' shots from Shadowbrook.

One from the first weekend,

Peacock - Shadowbrook Meadows 11.08.2012

one from the next,

Peacock - Shadowbrook Meadows 18.08.2012

and one from another visit on the second weekend when I went back with Chris who wanted to try and get a better Peacock photo than he had so far managed.

Peacock - Shadowbrook Meadows 19.08.2012

I saw Peacocks at a few other places but never in the same numbers as at shadowbrook.

I went to another of my local spots, Castle Hills near Solihull, in late September and was surprised to find a lone Peacock amongst the many Commas and Red Admirals that were around then.
I rather like the shot below, the background of yellowing autumn grasses makes a bit of a change.

Peacock - Castle Hills 29.09.2012

Cheers,

Neil F.

[Vince Massimo]

Just to be different............

Peacock pupa 26-July-2012
(10 minutes before hatching)

[Debbie]

Not a good photo as all the others

but I took this one at Grafton Woods, and it was the only peacock I saw that day and it would not keep still

Debbie