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David

Orange tip butterflies, mating

Orange tip butterflies, mating

Pair of orange tip butterflies mating while on a jack by the hedge, the preferred food plant of the species. A wider view (final picture) shows the plant had also attracted other orange tips.

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David

Orange tip butterflies, preparing to mate

Orange tip butterflies, preparing to mate

Male orange tip butterfly fluttering as it heads towards a female perched on a grass stalk. The female (which doesn’t have the orange patch that gives the species its name) is waving her abdomen in the air to spread the pherenomes which have attracted the male. These pictures taken a week later than the sequence in the previous post.

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David

Horse chestnut flowers, opening

Horse chestnut flower, opening

Horse chestnut flowers at every stage of opening from buds to full flower.

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David

Mallard family ashore again, West Park

Mallard family ashore again, West Park

West Park mallard family with drake alongside, resting again in the sun on the shore of the lake.

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David

Whitethroat on a telegraph pole

Whitethroat on a telegraph pole

Whitethroats: more often heard than seen. For a change, this one was in the open, on the top of a telegraph pole by Wightwick Lock.

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David

Bumblebee visiting bugloss flowers

Bumblebee visiting alkanet flower

Bumblebee which seemed to be systematically visiting every flower in a patch of bugloss.