Tuesday 3 May 2011

Whirlwind romance

Sap rising in the butterfly world. I was just down the road at a neighbour's when we spotted a strange whirl of activity - two little objects twisting round and round like a tornado, then separating and heading their own way for a while before returning to the mad dance.

They turned out to be a pair of Small Coppers, full of the joys of Spring. Next year should see plenty more of this lovely little metallic-coloured butterfly, at least down our way. I'm sorry the pictures are poor quality; I only had my 'phone which suffers from my ageing, unsteady hands. But here they are, briefly taking a rest together, and then below, one still on the ground while the other spirals up to see what I am.

3 comments:

worm said...

coppers are stunning little butterflies, I haven't seen one in years but as a child in cornwall they were very common. I like their unusual wing layout, with the two wing halves of equal size they seem like a butterfly prototype that went into production

Anonymous said...

Yes that's right and they often hold them oddly, shuffling them about in different sequences

Lovely to see them on a sunny days. Cliches about jewels come to mind...

Curiously, the word verification for this message has been 'wherme' Did you organise that with Google high command?

all v best

M

Jason Ralls said...

Great stuff. Over on this side of the atlantic, i only saw the first butterfly of the season about a week ago. It's a wonderful thing.

http://knowledgeiswonderful.blogspot.com/