I've been meaning to post this for some time, but keep being distracted. I shall now remedy that deficit, and by doing so, introduce everyone to a once in a lifetime moment!
Preamble: male Orange Tip butterfies are
ceaselessly active in the sunshine. They'll patrol a section of greenspace for literally hours on end, looking for a female to mate with, occasionally pausing for a
very short time at a flower to tank up on nectar before resuming what I refer to as their "long range bombing missions"
As a consequence, finding a male Orange Tip resting is largely a matter of luck.
So, cue April 26th, 2023. I spot a male Orange Tip on the wing as I'm returning home from some shopping, flitting about the greenery adjacent to the cycle track I use for commuting. Then, to my surprise, it settled on a dandelion clock.
At that same moment, a cloud crossed in front of the Sun, and as a consequence, the male Orange Tip reamined still for, wait for it,
thirteen mnutes!
I dropped the bicycle, took the camera out of the bag, and started shooting. The photos I'm posting are the end result. Wait until you see what happened as I post these photos!
First, the specimen let me zoom in
extra close to it, so I managed the extreme head close-ups you see below. But there's more ... watch this space ...