Another pic. from a different angle
Male Gatekeeper
This picture was taken last year in august, an 'Inachis io' resting on the wall after a vist on my butterfly bush.
Beautiful butterflies and pics!
I've never seen a Papilio, it's not one we get here, the caterpillars sole food is Milk-parsley
http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species.php?vernacular_name=Swallowtail
I have lots of pics yet, too busy sorting them out!
I saw one today that I've never seen before, it was tiny, no more than half an inch long. The wing span is just over an inch.
A female Adonis Blue, it posed for me and I got plenty of shots.
bonitin your buddleja looks like mine! It must have been set there just for that butterfly.
The top of wings is brown with orange and black/white spots on the edges. It's body has a deep blue hue which can be seen radiating over the wings in the sunshine..
Thanks Wallaby1,
It is lovely that you share so many pictures of your butterflies! Very interesting!
The last butterfly you've send I have never seen before, it has such a beautiful subtle colours and combines so well with the flower it is sitting on. Very 'chique' colour combination.
I've never planted dahlia's, because I find their colors usually very chocking. But your dahlia is very subtle and beautiful. What's its name ? Can it tolerate some shade ?
The papilio machaon is actually a butterfly which is on the 'Red List' in Belgium and in the Netherlands what means that it is on the verge of becoming extinct.
This year I had planted some 'Daucus carota' (I suppose 'Milk-parsley' is its English name ?) grown from seeds I had collected in the wild. They are very beautiful in all their stages, the flowers are like lacework.
The link on the web site give food plants for different butterflies, I think I'll have to grow some of these!
http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/foodplants.php#Milk-parsley
Milk-parsley is Peucedanum palustre
The little butterfly I thought might be an Adnis Blue because the revers wing looks identical to it, the description of the top and pictures of it is so much alike it's hard to tell, but I put it on the ID forum and kennedyH thinks it is the Common Blue (not so common!). It is distributed throughout the UK where the Adonis is only normally found on the south coast in isolated patches. This hot summer has me thinking anything is possible, as you have found bonitin.
I had Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) butterflies on the pink Buddleja, it is the first time I have seen them and they are supposed to be common. A Red Admiral turned up at the same time, later than the others, and I think they must have come on the same winds, they can fly thousands of kilometers on winds. Clever things aren't they!
The colouring on both looks like pictures of some I saw on a web site from the Canary Islands. When we get hot weather it mostly comes from Spain or Northern Africa, and Canary Islands are off the coast of North Africa.
The normal Red Admiral for here is Vanessa atalanta, under Nymphalidae, Vanessa vulcania is the one I think could be this late-comer.
Vanessa cardui has very bright colours in the pic from Canary Islands, the ones I had were very bright.
http://www.leps.it/
The Red Admiral on the left, Painted Lady on right. It's also strange that I saw these two feeding together quite often. I found myself wondering if they cross breed as they are the same family, like horses and donkeys.
An article on Milk-parsley, it is native to an area just south of me, so I see no reason why the Swallowtail wouldn't visit here if the food is available and weather conditions right. Perhaps they will in the future?
http://www.spookspring.com/Umbels/Milk_PArs.html
Another late-comer which has me confused is a Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae), the larger size of it that is. It looked so different, I was thinking it could be the Large Tortoiseshell. The colours could be washed out and the wings tatty at the edges, but even though the bands across the leading edge are broad and resemble the Small Tortoiseshell, I can't see the distinctive white spot near the tip. Neither can I see the blue marks on the edge of the forewing, they do look tatty but I would have thought I could see some.
It does look a lot like the Large Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis polychloros), but neither is that supposed to be here. But it could be with this hot weather.
It took forever to get a top shot of this one, and the battery was going flat!
Beautiful! I love butterflies - great to see so many different kinds!
rannveig, do you have many butterflies in Iceland? Most of them here migrate from North Africa and warmer places in Europe, I think you may be too far North to get many.
I have had many more last year and even more this year than I have seen before, the different flowers I have grown attracts them.
I'm happy to share them!
No, unfortunately there aren't any :-( Just very plain moths, sometimes there are a few blown over from Europe if there are strong easterly winds for a few days, but I've never seen them - I can't remember the name of it - I think it's mostly one kind.
That'll be Painted Lady at a guess :)
Fantastic photos all. I've only just discovered this thread :O
philomel I do have more pics, but so many things to distract me! Perhaps when it's colder I can update.
The small blue butterfly on the dahlia I thought may be Adonis Blue but turns out to be a Common Blue, they are so similar it's the extra orange patches on the top that separates them.
I have also had a Holly Blue, I saw it again recently, it likes to feed on the Passiflora caerulea, which unfortunately has a split stem and is dying, the good new is I have some self sets.
Beautiful! (Both flower and butterfly!) :-)
What a beauty Wallaby1! Amazing picture!
I can't compete with your photos Janet, but here is one of the underside of some kind of fritillary. We've never had one in the garden before, but it was very flighty and wouldn't keep still long enough to get a shot from above.
I think it is a Dark Green Fritillary. Difficult to tell from my photo, but I got a good look at its back as it zoomed from flower to flower.
Thanks rannveig!
Thanks Bonitin!
Pat, I think yours is a Wall Brown. I had one some time ago, first I have seen it, it was flitting up into the conker tree earlier in the day and I though by what I saw it was a Wall Brown. Later I was taking pics of various whites on the Lythrum salicaria I have growing at the water's edge (no water!) and it came along and fed but I had a job getting a good pic.
Most butterflies are nervous for a start, after all we could be a bird about to eat them. I find after they get used to me I can get to within 6" of them, but if they don't come back you just have to get what you can.
Underwing view of Wall Brown, taken on 3rd August
Thanks Janet, It definately isn't a Wall Brown, we've had them lots of times. This is much larger and not the same shape, and the top, which I couldn't get a picture of is just like the fritillary in the book. Just sorry my photo is so bad.
Ohh looks like you have an infestation there wallaby. I'll send you some insecticide to sort the little beggers out. heheheh