Small White - Favourite Photo of 2024

[Wurzel]

Small White - Favourite Photo of 2024

Week 18

Finally we’re leaving the Small’s behind! But that can only mean that we’re drawing closer to the grand finale! Make sure that you have your overall Faves ready to go!

Please could I ask that everyone waits until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos as then it will be easier to keep track of things? Of course our overseas members are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants. As in previous years details of locations, dates, times and circumstances would be welcome as would any accompanying stories and anecdotes or other observations of behaviour and interesting other points.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

One of the last butterflies I saw last year on the 4th of November

[David M]

Didn't take many. This female on 18th September at Rhossili Head was probably my favourite:

[David Lazarus]

My first photograph of a butterfly during 2024 was this very white male Small White in one of the gardens I manage - basking on a Choisya spp. from March:

Small White male
Meadgate Avenue 12/03/2024

And my favourite female was this creamy one from the River Chelmer floodplain in the rough grassland area adjacent to the Chelmer Road Bridge in Baddow Meads:

Small White female
Baddow Meads 15/05/2024

[David T]

Like David Lazarus, my season also started of with a Male Small White on 26th March. When it was on the wing it appeared to be brilliant white, and once it had settled it was clear there was no black spot visable on the upper-wing and also the tips of the wing, there were also no dark markings visable. Luckily through out the first brood season many more Male Small Whites appeared to be very similar with little or no markings, so I managed to get at least eight reasonable photo's locally in April and May. Another intersting thing was the mass emergence of 3rd brood whites towards the end of August and early September. On the 7th September I was 5 miles into my walk when a came to what I have know for 45 years as the Totternhoe half mile hill. It was on radish fields on this hill, where I can say I witnessed at least a 1,000+ white butterflies and then on the other radish field at the bottom of the hill was at least another 500 whites as far as the eye could see. Before I had even got to the fields, on Sewell cutting and Totternhoe reserve I had already recorded 73 Large White, 37 Small White, +1 pair, 78 GV White, +6 pairs and 58 Small/GV Whites. I have to go back to the 1990's for when I last remember a mass emergence of whites like this. Altogether on the radish fields alone, I wouldn't be supprised if there was up to 5,000 whites far too many to count. Due to the large numbers of Green-veined Whites probably 50% of all the identified whites, I would say that this was not a mass migration from the continent? Unless someone out there also knows of a GV White mass migration across the sea in 2024.

Male Small White - Blows Downs, Dunstable 29th May @ 15:22pm

Small White Pair - Houghton Regis 4th Sept @ 13:07pm

[Goldie M]

I saw the Small White in the Castle Gardens Whitstable on the 13th of April, the Gardens are really lovely, full of flowers Goldie

[Wurzel]

Small White

I saw some really nice individuals of this species throughout the year so it came as something of a surprise to pick this image when seeking out my Fave. The butterfly itself isn’t in a great state of repair; markings faded through wear and tear, margins ragged and ripped and an overall feeling that this was a butterfly eking out its retirement. However what made it strike a chord was the delicate golden background nicely reflected in the wings giving it a sense of blurring into the background and producing a dreamy and ethereal quality.

Have a goodun

Wurzel