These pretty little butterflies are easy to spot as the males’ wings have bright orange tips – giving them their name! They are a common sight during spring and can be found in lots of places including meadows, woodland and hedges. The adults lay their eggs on special plants to ensure that their caterpillars have the right food to eat. Orange-tip caterpillars love garlic mustard, cuckooflower and hedge mustard plants.

The male orange-tip is unmistakeable: a white butterfly, half of its forewing is a bold orange, and it has light grey wingtips. The female is also white, but has grey-black wingtips, similar to the white butterflies. Both sexes show a mottled, 'mossy grey' pattern on the underside of their hindwings when at rest.

Here are two songs that inspired my choice of this title:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hyFB6SA7b4

Tricolored Heron doing its walk on water routine.

Advection Frost

One from the archives for the Looking Close on Friday theme of tip. I have no idea what the plant is!

Looking Close... on Friday: Tip

On tonight's episode of "Cats Are Perfect": the ear! This delicate, soft little ear possesses 32 muscles (we poor humans only have 6) and allows cats to keep their balance, move their ears 180°, and of course hear 5 times better than us. It never ceases to amaze me how these little killing machines with superfeline powers can be so graceful, elegant, beautiful... and so, so cute! (Incidentally, the cuteness is... not incidental. They share baby-like features with lots of baby animals, which makes us subconsciously attracted to them. But these devious little monsters have also managed to tune their purring to a human baby's cries, triggering our instinct to protect, help... and smooch. We are being totally manipulated. And we love that.)

Male Orange Tip butterfly in my garden

I photographed this little Palm Warbler last week during Spring migration at Chicago's Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary.

Texture: The Daily Texture and Topaz Impression

HTT

Padiham, Lancashire

Last years leaves can still be seen on these trees

A happy shot of a Douglas Fir tip. Things look so green in rain or drizzle.

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Giant Swallowtail butterfly taking nectar from a wild Coneflower.

Common though not so abundant this year.

Orange tip Butterfly seen at RSPB Leighton Moss. (2123)

Captured for Looking close on Friday: Tip. HLCoF everyone!

Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus)

Loch Spelve, Isle of Mull

In Cornwall

did try to put the Tears for Fears track here (tipping point) but for some reason I keep on getting a bad link - so I shall hum instead -----^^

When in the country I use to find antlers that had been shed, trick is to beat the field mice to the prize. That is my tip of the day on getting antler tips.

Looking close...on Friday!:-)

The subject is tip . . .

Just enough snow to give this bison frosted tips 😊

RSPB Baron's Haugh, Motherwell...have learned its best not to photograph these in bright sunshine!

Orange tip (Anthocharis cardamines) butterfly on Lady's smock (Cardamine pratensis).

Spring is in the air after a slow start! The first pair of the season on a local nature reserve close to home (Nottingham, UK) (1628)

A Male Orange tip butterfly settles on a Cuckooflower which is the main food plant for the caterpillar of this species

For Flower Friday

Happy Friday!

Viceroy butterfly surveying its domain.

Common.

Weekly challenge for Looking close on Friday!

Tune ♥

Credits ♥

A roosting female on a grey day near the Wirksworth Stone Centre in the Derbyshire Peak District (UK) (8803)

You can just see the orange edge of this male Orange Tip wing, the first one of the year for me. This was taken late yesterday afternoon, it was to cold for it to fly, and as the temperatures went down to -4 here last night it was still there this morning. It hasn't got much better through the day, and it is still there now on the end of this white lilac bud,

Janolus savinkini, common name purple-tipped janolus, is a colorful sea slug, an arminina (a suborder of Janolus) nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Proctonotidae. The body and caruncle of this species are yellow with a hue of light orange. The papillae and cerata are also this colour except for the tips, which are blue/purple, hence the common name. (Wikipedia) Anilao, South Luzon, Philippines

Kalender 2026

Anthocharis cardamines

This male Orange Tip was taking a few minutes rest on his favourite sprig of Hawthorn, from defending his patch. Orange Tip season seems to be almost over. A shame as I love to see them in spring, and this was a bumper year for them.

Anthocharis cardamines (OrangeTip) is a small butterfly belonging to the Pieridae family. They emerge in early April. The males can be easily recognized by the orange tips of their wings which the females don't possess. They can be found throughout Europe and temperate Asia as far as China.

Soldering Iron