Looks like the tubular base of the Lungwort flower is just too long for this male Orange Tip to access its nectar without jamming his head inside. I noticed, when looking again at the picture, that his antennae are bent right back behind his head. Looks a touch uncomfortable, but maybe there’s something especially delicious about the Lungwort’s nectar. I know our dogs love its leaves. They have to have their daily fix and stand in the flower beds solemnly munching away for a good five minutes every morning.
Quite a few Orange Tips around at the moment. Looks like a good year for them, as it already has been for Peacocks, Commas and Brimstones – in this garden anyway. Feel lucky to have one right now.
Here are another couple of shots of Orange Tips, this time on more conventional Aubretia flowers where the nectar is easier to get at with a straight forward uncoiled proboscis.
So that’s it, first post of 2020. What a strange year it’s turning out to be. Posts and pictures on this site will be confined to the garden for the foreseeable. Though I might sneak in one or two from dog walks if I get lucky.
Learning about Photography, Butterflies and the White Rainbow 
Amazing number of tortoiseshell and peacocks around too. Early for peacocks I think.
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Only saw my first tortoise shell in the garden yesterday. Though did release one from the bedroom a few weeks back on a particularly sunny morning. Always amazed any butterflies survive their hibernation here with the amount of spiders that hang out in the cupboards and other nooks and crannies. Talking of ‘early’, saw a Wall Brown a couple of days ago – the first I’ve ever seen in the garden. But then I’d never knowingly seen one anywhere before a couple of summers ago. The Butterfly Conservation Website says they normally don’t appear much before early May https://butterfly-conservation.org/butterflies/wall so a double surprise.
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