The beholder's eye

By uniqueandlovely

Almost flourescent......

Last day of the school holidays today, and to celebrate what has turned out to be a great season for insects I thought I would pay one last visit to my favourite meadow up on the downs.
It was noticeable how few butterfly species there were today compared with 3 short weeks ago, I saw 3 female Chalkhill blues, ~ 10 common blues, 2 Meadow browns, 1 Clouded yellow, 1 Small tortoiseshell and this beautiful female Brimstone.
Today's blip is a female Brimstone butterfly Gonepteryx rhamni, Not to be confused with the Clouded yellow, the Brimstone is a UK resident. It is thought the name 'Butterfly' is derived from the males which are butter yellow, hence Butter coloured fly!
They are thought to be long lived and because they overwinter as adults can be seen almost any day of the year in almost any location.
The males are a beautiful 'butter' yellow, and are very beautiful, the females however are this almost flourescent shade of pale greeney white and when flying are easily mistaken for a large white.
I have taken this shot with the late afternoon sun behind to illuminate the wings and show off the stunning colour.
I hope you like her.
I also saw a couple of common lizards so I will put them in my Blipfolio.
Enjoy

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