Overall Favourite Butterfly Photo of 2024

[Wurzel]

Overall Favourite Butterfly Photo of 2024

Week 20

So we made it…well almost! Despite the fine, sunny weather and my first butterflies yesterday there might still be a bit of ‘the wet stuff’ to come. Still at least the end is in sight and you now have the opportunity to post your Overall Favourite Butterfly Photo of 2024!

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

[Allan.W.]

I was very lucky in 24' and after around 50 years of trying i had my first Large Tortoiseshell sightings in the UK ,3 "definates" in all and a couple of possibles ,the first in Late March ,and a good fly past in another section of the wood (Orlestone Forest,Kent ) around the same time give or take .The second grounded specimen .....this one ,from late July ,and about 600 metres away from the March insect .Fairly sure its a female ,I watched it perched for some time ,when it raised its rear end and released some waste . On the same day that I saw the March LT .....about ten minutes earlier I stumbled across a pair of Brimstone ..........another lifer.

[Goldie M]

Great shot Allan lets hope there's more sightings this year Goldie

[David M]

That must have neen a supremely wonderful moment, Allan, after a half-century of looking.

[Allan.W.]

Thanks Goldie and David. Undoubtably my 24' best moments ........been a long time coming ....had a few "possibles" in the past ,but these sightings were my first definites ,with two that posed well ,particularly the July individual ,which I tried to put some other locals on to ,but I don,t use a mobile phone so it had to wait until i'd returned home .I was also very pleased to find in-cop Brimstones .....also a first.

[Padfield]

I agree she's a female. She looks gravid, which is weird for late July, so I wonder if she is so recently emerged she is still full of meconium (the waste seen to be released).

Difficult to follow such a great sighting (my first and only UK large tortoiseshell was 40 years ago this year ...) but here is the best I can do - a female iolas blue laying on an isolated bladder senna in the Rhône Valley of Switzerland, near Leuk. It's not a brilliant photo but I was really pleased with the sighting. I had spotted the bladder senna some distance off the track as I walked east along the valley and checked it out in case an iolas blue should be nectaring on it. Sure enough, there was a male there. When I returned some time later I checked again and there was a female, doing her thing! I didn't see any other bladder senna in the whole walk. These are rare butterflies but they fly great distances to find their host plants and in the Rhône Valley if you wait long enough by any bladder senna there is a good chance you will see one.



I will make a point of checking the same bladder senna in 2025, in the hope of seeing her offspring!

Guy

[millerd]

Always a difficult choice for me, but I suppose in the light of recent developments this shot rather symbolises the potential threat my neighbouring airport represents to the local butterfly population.

Dave

[ChrisStamp]

this shot rather symbolises the potential threat my neighbouring airport represents to the local butterfly population

A super shot Dave - one of my favourites of the year too!

[Wolfson]

Assuming overseas is allowed, my favourite was taken in a somewhat overgrown garden in south west France where the garden/meadow had not been cut or grazed since pre-Covid days. Although it was rather overgrown and infested with ticks, I observed 30 species within the garden over four days in late June. Although I suspected the identity of the “favourite” by its well documented flight, having not previously encountered a Large Chequered Skipper, its identity was only confirmed when it eventually settled.

[Andy02]

Memorable moments were tricky last year. Seeing most of my butterflies in the right place but the wrong time. Spring proved to be prolonged so plenty of time to catch up with the first to show. Provence Orange tip always start my year and bolster my enthusiasm

[Vince Massimo]

My overall favourite is this Small Tortoiseshell, mainly for its rarity value last year.

Small Tortoiseshell - Lancing, Sussex 2-April-2024

Hopefully better fortunes for the species this year.

Vince

[David M]

..Provence Orange tip always start my year and bolster my enthusiasm

Always uplifting to see those, Andy. Can't wait till April when I'll be seeing them myself.

[David Lazarus]

Hopefully better fortunes for the species this year.

Top shot, Vince.....I wholeheartedly agree with you.

[David Lazarus]

Sorry, I have gone for Overall Favourite Butterfly of 2024 Photo rather than my favourite photo of 2024 which was a very blue female Common Blue in verdant grass that I have used too many times.

Obviously, for me the species that I shared the most happy memories with was the Wall of Essex. The cheeky blighters gave me the run around for over a month, and I enjoyed every bit of it for this species has an endearing character with so many funny habits. It was the 19th & 20th of September that were my favourite trips, finding a new site with a butterfly nirvana full of Wall. Two flew through my legs, and one landed on my boot, but I just missed a photographic moment even though he was a little tatty late in the season:

Wall male
Thames Estuary Path - East Tilbury 29/09/2024

And some were stunning to look at:

Wall female
Thames Estuary Path - East Tilbury 28/09/2024

I was privileged to catch sight of a Wall courtship:

Wall pair courtship
Thames Estuary Path - East Tilbury 20/09/2024

and a pair in cop:

Wall pair in cop
RSPB Wallasea Island 07/09/2024

But not one ovipositing.

And then there was a male that seemed a little confused by a bejeweled female:

Wall male with Small Copper female
St Lawrence 11/10/2024

Happy memories searching for the little blighters around the Essex Saltmarsh Coast. I cannot wait to do it all again this year, looking for my favourite butterfly species of 2024.

[Wurzel]

Overall Favourite 2024

Well this was a struggle as I didn’t really take my own advice…and so it came to the Grande Finale and I’d already picked all of my Favourites. So it was back to the drawing board (or should that be portable hard drive?) and luckily a few shots jumped out at me – possibly as I’d forgotten at the time or overlooked them? When it came to whittling them down it was harder than every but I did manage to get it to two…

The first came from our holiday to Montpelier at the end of August and I chose it as it seemed whimsical and almost comical at the time. A Lang’s Short-tailed Blue was deeply embedded feeding and while the head was busy the wings looked a little like a slightly stunned alien!

The second came from my first visit to Ashton Rowant with Dave. It was a cracking day, made all the better as all three of the girls were enjoying Taylor Swift so I had a guilt free day. The subject was ridiculously fresh and a nice mix of pristine and fluffy in a delightful ambience.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David T]

Sorry, I have also had to choose not a favourite photo, but my favourite butterfly for 2024. The Small Blue holds a special place in my heart with many special memories recorded in 2024. I am extremely proud to have been informed by our county recorder from Bedfordshire, that I hold every single Small Blue sighting from the 4th September onwards. This would be well over a 50 individual sightings in 2024 alone. The final sighting on 16th October also smashed my previous record. Could this also be the latest UK adult recording of a Small Blue EVER.?

Male Small Blue 24th May 2024 @ 16:38pm

Pair 2nd Brood Small Blues 9th August 2024 @ 12:44pm

Roosting Small Blue 3rd September @ 16:55pm

Freshly Emerged Small Blue 5th October @ 11:38am

Small Blue Final Sighting 16th October @ 14:11pm

I am certainly not complaining for what was an amazing season locally for this magnificent little butterfly. I am though slighly worried with the late emergence of these butterflies. I am hoping that in the long run this does not lead to a disaster with a possible local extinction.

[David M]

In terms of sheer beauty and serendipity, I'd have to go for this remarkable sighting of a Southern Swallowtail in the French Mercantour in late June.

This species was found roosting wings open at 7.30 in the morning:

[David M]

I think my overall favourite would have to be the near-mythical Dusky-Winged Fritillary, which is a denizen of high altitudes in the Arctic Circle.

Unsurprisingly, it is a dark and rather drab butterfly, but it probably has the most extreme niche requirements of any European species and getting close to one last July was the thrill of the year:

[Bertl]

My overall favourite photo I took in 2024 was of a common blue at Fallin Bing near Stirling on June 3rd.

It's a wonderful well managed site covered in wild flowers.

I had to get down flat on my stomach to get the shot.......and squeezed off a few photos before it was gone.

Cheers

Bert.

[Stevieb]

Staying with the European theme my favourite photo of 2024 was this one of a Blue-spot Hairstreak taken in Medulin, Croatia in May.

Not only was it a lifer but the white background which accentuated the butterfly perfectly was a whitewashed wall. Certainly made for a nice crisp backdrop to highlight this beautiful butterfly.

Medulin, Croatia. 24th May 2024