Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: Do you have a butterfly mating picture?, 1 by wallaby1

wallaby1 wrote:
snuzer that is a very pretty butterfly you have, or should I say mates.

TexasPP, it's amazing how many butterflies you have managed to capture in the making.

becky, it looks like you have a butterfly farm there!

I had a lot of butterflies this (last) year, but it was only the whites I saw mating. The common Small White seemed to make a very quick job of it, unless it was a lead up to the actual performance. I have one pic from 2005 where I saw a pair of whites join together amongst my species dahlias, then they danced off in unison swirling in harmony towards the sunset over the hedge, I took another once they set off but it was low amongst the greenery and at that time I only had a 32mb card enabling up to 15 pics, I was on the last and wiped the last one to try to get a better shot, so I will never know if it was any good, and of course I missed them as they shot off too quickly to get another pic.

Here's the pair, and although they don't look as big as some Large Whites (size can vary with time of year), the description in my book of their 'spiralling and vivacious' mating flight, they must be Large Whites (there is a smaller Greeen-veined White). The funny thing is it's the female initiating the union, she has 2 black spots on the upper forewing, the male waiting on the stem in readiness (how else does one put it?) has creamy undersides and no spots.