Orange-Tip butterfly

This was another day lounging about the garden in the sunshine. Some reading, a wee refreshment and a bit of mandolin and guitar playing. I had run my mother back into Edinburgh and stopped on the way back to Peebles to capture some lovely low light on rolling fields just north of the town, but I only had my iPhone camera and the images weren't that good. I must get a decent compact to always have with me. Rule number 1 of photography: you can't take a photograph if you don't have a camera with you!

As we sat down to relax with a drink, my wife spotted this butterfly on a nearby clematis and I ran for my Nikon. A quick check on the web (www.ukbutterflies.co.uk) showed it to be a female Orange-Tip or Anthocharis cardamines. I would not have known that. This view shows its camouflaged underside; the male has, as the name suggests, orange tips on the upper side of its wings.

The tiny detail of nature never fails to amaze me. Yet another product of this amazing spell of glorious sunshine.