The Admiral

I have a few macro subject targets for this summer and one of those targets was the White Admiral (Limenitis camilla). After joining fellow photographers Neil and Geoff at a local spot that they do a lot of their photography at, but to be honest I rarely visit, I was involved in the White Admiral project sooner than I thought I would be. After walking down one of the woodland rides, I suddenly spotted a very fresh individual, probably newly emerged, sitting on the track floor. I alerted Neil and we approached very carefully. As usual with these stunning but very active butterflies, it flew up before we got close enough for any images. What we weren't expecting was that it would land nearby and pose very happily for the next hour! What an experience with a butterfly that I have only really ever seen gliding around woodland rides and landing at distance in the woodland shadows. A number of images from the session are posted below and if my other macro projects prove this fruitful, I will have a big smile on my face at the end of the summer. Click on the image to see large versions.