Left Behind - _TNY_5332

Leaving the Paradiset nature reserve after a nice day out with my son, I noticed I had a passenger on the outside of the windshield.

 

After stopping the car, I got out with my camera and found the most accomodating little model in form of this heath fritillary (Melitaea athalia) which posed nicely for me even though I had the MP-E65mm on the camera (ie a very close working distance) and didn't fly off so I even got a short focus stack of it. This is a single exposure though after I had moved it from the windshield to a wooden fence next to the road and taken at 1:1 magnification which is as far away as the MP-E will let me.

 

These guys are kind of interesting in how much the time it spends as a caterpillar can vary. In some cases, the can manage more than one generation during a summer while in others the caterpillar can hibernate through one or even several winters before pupating into the imago form.

 

A shot of it still on the windshield here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/49995768027/

Done