Flutterbys!

[Kentish Man]

Yes, at last, it is April - and today on a 10 minute walk through some woodland in Great Chart I counted no less than 12 painted lady butterflies, I think they are called. Very nice to see.

Also saw another that was an almost illuminous dull yellow - a bit like the hue of a tennis ball - not sure what that was - can anyone recommend a good butterfly IDing website? I had a cursory look around http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/ but to no avail. Perhaps it was just an off-colour cabbage white shining brightly in the sunshine above the lush grass?! I'm not very good with butterflies!

[jillybean]

www.butterfly-conservation.org. they have a very comprehensive array. I have a sheet of photographs of Denge wood butterflys, a lovely thing I have printed out and stuck in my notebook because as I have found, unless you photograph them or are carrying a book, you cant remember what they are like when you have returned home . The tennis ball one sounds like a Brimstone. I cant find where i got the ID sheet from now.this year, I have only seen a Comma and a small white.

[Kentish Man]

Thanks for the link jb! I managed to take a picture or two of one of the butterflies I thought was a Painted Lady and it seems as though I was wrong - they were probably Comma butterflies...although I'm still not 100% because the shape isn't identical, but I've trawled through all the butterflies on your link and it seems like the closest.

http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/af197/KentishMan/IMAGE_083.jpg

http://i1007.photobucket.com/albums/af197/KentishMan/IMAGE_084.jpg

I think you are definitely right about the Brimstone one I saw - looks identical. Thanks for that : )

[tracy]

Hi Kentish Man

Yes, I think that is a comma, beautiful aren't they?

[docsquid]

If anybody would like a butterfly identified, I'm quite good at this. I've been photographing British Butterflies for years, and am pretty good at identifying most species, except those specific to the North/Scotland, with which I'm less familiar.

Also got a few pictures (scanned from old slides) on http://www.docsquid.com/butterflies.htm