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First in Five Years - _TNY_8822

The painted lady (Vanessa cardui) is a migratory butterfly and it actually takes it several generations to complete their travel north (from northern Africa) every year (and several more to get back). Most years they don't reach as far north as Stockholm, Sweden, but back in 2019, there were suddenly loads and loads of them around, presumably because of favourable winds which brought them further north.

 

Since then I haven't seen a single one, but last weekend, I spotted a nice looking butterfly (which I thought was a red admiral at the time) on a lawn in the neighbourhood and decided that they were probably ok with me walking on it just a little to get a shot of it.

 

Since I had the MP-E65mm lens on the camera which can't take photos further away than 10.1 cm / 4" from the front glas I had to bring out the ninja skills - but I got this shot of it on a red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) and another one of it.

 

It was after taking the photos and it flying off that I realised that it wasn't an admiral - but a painted lady!

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Uploaded on July 25, 2024
Taken on July 21, 2024