A - Z Challenge 2015 - Butterflies - 'R'

R - Red Admiral, Ringlet

The Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) appears in Europe, Asia and North America. It shares our Buddleia bush with Peacocks, Tortoiseshells and White butterflies. 

My photos of it in Yorkshire are all on the golden yellow rose we planted for our 50th wedding anniversary some years ago.

Red Admiral

The one I photographed in Michigan in 2010 had to make do with the tyre on a tractor.

Red Admiral

There is no mistaking its striking dark brown, red and black wing pattern with orange bands crossing the forewings and on the outer edge of the hind wings.

Vladimir Nabokov, also an amateur lepidopterist, featured the Red Admiral in his novel Pale Face - I shall have to read it sometime.

The Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus) is a brown butterfly found all over Europe. This female was photographed at a site of special scientific interest  (SSSI) - Hurcott Wood, in Worcestershire.

Ringlet Butterfly

I must confess that the few I've seen on brambles have been a darker brown than this.

Female Ringlet Butterfly

On the underside there is no mistaking the black eyespots rimmed with yellow. You are much more likely to see it like this as it rarely exposes its brown upperside.

Love is like a butterfly
As soft and gentle as a sigh
The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings
Love makes your heart feel strange inside
It flutters like soft wings in flight
Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing

I feel it when you're with me
It happens when you kiss me
That rare and gentle feeling that I feel inside
Your touch is soft and gentle
Your kiss is warm and tender
Whenever I am with you I think of butterflies

Love is like a butterfly
The multicolored moods of love are like its satin wings
Love makes your heart feel strange inside
It flutters like soft wings in flight
Love is like a butterfly, a rare and gentle thing

Your laughter brings me sunshine

Photo Attributions:

• Female Ringlet at Hurcott Wood: 17 July 2008, geograph.org.uk by Max Fascione - CC BY-SA 2.0
• Female Ringlet: Sandy Bedfordshire, uploaded by innotata, by Ogangeaurochs - CC BY 2.0

A-Z Challenge 2013 - 'A'

My A-Z posts this year will be based on things in my garden – flowers, animals, the birds and the bees, butterflies - with a bit of poetry thrown in. For some letters I am expecting to cheat somewhat – wishing  they were here.

A - Anemone, Aquilegia, Azalea, Red Admiral

We have a lot of perennial plants. Among them is the:

Anemone

A perennial may be, but the anemone doesn’t always put in an appearance unlike the:

Aquilegia (& Forget-me-nots)

These seed themselves and appear in all sorts of unexpected places like against the next door fence.

Aquilegia

However if you use garden pots it’s easier to maintain control:

Azaleas

Of course it is wildlife that you wish to see, like this ‘admirable’ sight:

Red Admiral

I’ve watched you now a full half-hour,

Self-poised upon that yellow flower;

Wordsworth – To a Butterfly.