Flutterbys

[bunn]

Today it has been monumentally wet and rainy. A thick fog sat around our house all day, through which rain fell with varying enthusiasm. The roads, again, are washing away, not just where the roads have become worn, but also where they have been patched, and where springs have excitedly decided to pop up randomly through the tarmac. Rocks are rolling out of the banks because the soil can't hold them in place, it's so wet.

To cheer myself up, I have got out the photos I took when the sun came out earlier this week, to prove that not all the butterflies have washed away, and sorted through them. I do wonder where they go when it rains.


Red Admiral - there were 4 of them, but it's hard to photograph more than one at a time.


Small White (at least, I think this is a small white. It's hard to estimate the exact size of butterflies when they will insist on flapping about. Also this is a non-standard ones as it should have black dots on, apparently.


Peacock


Gatekeeper


Speckled Wood butterfly

Comments

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

If anyone out here knows anything about butterflies, could they attempt to identify one I saw in my office car park a couple of weeks ago:
Medium size
White and black wings in a distinct zebra stripe pattern
Reddish abdomen and thorax.

I can't see anything like it in any butterfly book I have access to. I saw it in broad daylight on a sunny day, so I figured it was a butterfly rather than a moth.

Any ideas?

[sigisgrim.livejournal.com]

Day and night preference isn't a particularly good distinction between butterflies and moths, or so I've been told. Better ones are:
* Moths are furry, butterflies aren't.
* Butterflies put their wings up, moths put their wings down.
There is another one, I think, but I can't remember it; it might be something about mouth parts.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Well done Sigisgrim! I looked up moths, and found my specimen:

It's a Jersey Tiger Moth:

http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=824

[bunn.livejournal.com]

That is a pretty moth!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure about the furry thing - the red admiral is moderately fluffy and so was the Peacock.

Also, the wings thing - butterflies *can* put their wings up. But sometimes they don't just to confuse and annoy.


I reckon the best measure is: if you have no idea what it is, it's probably a moth because there are thousands of the little buggers, many of them apparently identical to the naked eye. There are only a few butterflies and it's fairly easy to learn them.

[kargicq.livejournal.com]

Those are beautiful pictures!

[the-marquis.livejournal.com]

Ooh greeat pix of the flutterbies

[tena524.livejournal.com]

Lovely pix, thanks for posting. I don't think we have any of those on this side of the pond, not that I'm any sort of expert.