David Element
Wildlife Photography and Digital
Video Images
___________________________________
_______________________________________Butterflies 13 - Red Admirals
RED ADMIRAL BUTTERFLY Vanessa atalanta RED
ADMIRAL BUTTERFLY Vanessa atalanta
RED ADMIRAL BUTTERFLY Vanessa atalanta
RED ADMIRAL BUTTERFLY Vanessa atalanta RED ADMIRAL BUTTERFLY Vanessa atalanta
RED ADMIRAL BUTTERFLY Vanessa atalanta
RED ADMIRAL BUTTERFLY Vanessa atalanta RED ADMIRAL BUTTERFLY Vanessa atalanta
RED
ADMIRAL BUTTERFLY Vanessa atalanta
- A
selection of close-up photographs is shown of Red Admiral Butterflies Vanessa
atalanta. 'Red Admiral' is actually
a corruption of 'Red Admirable'.
Some of these beautiful insects are now able to survive the warmer British
winters by hibernating as adults. They exploit the late-flowering Ivy Hedera helix as
a valuable nectar source, either to provide fuel for their return
migration flights as winter approaches or to stock up nutrients to enable
them to hibernate. Several of these pictures illustrate the unfurled
proboscis probing these flowers and the resting position can be observed
in the final photograph. These butterflies are therefore now genuine all
year round UK residents and perhaps better described as 'partial
migrants'. The typical nymphalid 'brush
feet' are very evident in several of these photographs.
These modified legs are smaller in males than females. Although useless
for walking, they are covered with numerous large scales and have a
sensory function which enables the butterflies to detect suitable nectar
supplies.
- David’s short films of Red Admiral Butterflies may be seen at: https://youtu.be/gGAj7920QZ4, https://youtu.be/nEdzI-3xaqg and https://youtu.be/DI2-W6ckE-8.
-> Butterflies 1,
2, 3,
4, 5,
6, 7,
8, 9,
10, 11,
12, 13,
14, 15,
16, 17,
18, 19,
20, 21,
22, 23,
24, 25,
26, 27,
28, 29,
30, 31,
32, 33,
34, 35,
36, 37,
38, 39,
40, 41,
42, 43,
44, 45,
46, 47,
48, 49,
50, 51,
52, 53,
54, 55,
56, 57,
58, 59,
60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66,
67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84,
85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120
-> Species
Index, Common Names
-> Species
Index, Scientific Names
-> Site Index
-> Home