Anyone like butterflies?

[Cupcake]

Hello everyone!
I've been to a "butterfly event" so to speak this weekend and I just got to go through the pictures and delete the millions of out of focus shots :rolleyes: but I've kept a few and would like to share them with you :)
If creeped out by butterflies do not scroll down! :lol: (my boyfriend hates them but was kind enough to accompany me)

This is a Helenor Morpho
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8229/8532830506_a23c9c60c9_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/midorihues/8532830506/)
Botanical Gardens, 2013 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/midorihues/8532830506/) by MidoriHue (http://www.flickr.com/people/midorihues/), on Flickr

The Monarch
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8245/8531723521_6d5fb38e85_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/midorihues/8531723521/)
Botanical Gardens, 2013 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/midorihues/8531723521/) by MidoriHue (http://www.flickr.com/people/midorihues/), on Flickr

Little fellow that I have not identified yet :lol:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8111/8532831064_40bbd8db8a_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/midorihues/8532831064/)
IMG_3378 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/midorihues/8532831064/) by MidoriHue (http://www.flickr.com/people/midorihues/), on Flickr

A Wood Nymph
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8097/8532832782_298e747a42_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/midorihues/8532832782/)
Botanical Gardens, 2013 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/midorihues/8532832782/) by MidoriHue (http://www.flickr.com/people/midorihues/), on Flickr

Probably one of my favourites, the Emerald Swallowtail
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8379/8532833790_20e0b81b1e_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/midorihues/8532833790/)
Botanical Gardens, 2013 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/midorihues/8532833790/) by MidoriHue (http://www.flickr.com/people/midorihues/), on Flickr

[Cupcake]

And a second batch!

The Common Buckeye (I think)
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8512/8532836506_29267b72df_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/midorihues/8532836506/)
Botanical Gardens, 2013 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/midorihues/8532836506/) by MidoriHue (http://www.flickr.com/people/midorihues/), on Flickr

Asian Swallowtail (that seems to have come into contact with an Emerald one)
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8384/8531724705_6925fa9c26_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/midorihues/8531724705/)
Botanical Gardens, 2013 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/midorihues/8531724705/) by MidoriHue (http://www.flickr.com/people/midorihues/), on Flickr

Pink Rose
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8516/8531724241_43875c221c_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/midorihues/8531724241/)
Botanical, Gardens, 2013 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/midorihues/8531724241/) by MidoriHue (http://www.flickr.com/people/midorihues/), on Flickr

And another unidentified butterfly
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8094/8531723929_5688d5256e_c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/midorihues/8531723929/)
IMG_3217 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/midorihues/8531723929/) by MidoriHue (http://www.flickr.com/people/midorihues/), on Flickr

Hope you guys like them! :) if you wanna see more you can either check out my flickr page or my actual website as these are only a few shots I liked best

[souffle]

Oh wow those are totally beautiful :) Fantastic shots of beautiful butterflies xx

[LoveMyHams]

I love butterflies! They are so colorful and unique!

[Cupcake]

Thank you Souffle! I'm really glad you like them :D it's hard work running after butterflies and getting them to sit still!

[Polo]

Wow, they are lovely pictures, such vibrant colours and interesting markings. I do think they are beautiful creatures to look at (I have 12 tattoo'd on my back, designed by my nearest and dearest, with another 5 to go) but I am absolutely petrified of them. Last Easter I went to see the Damien Hirst exhibition at the Tate Modern, I'm afraid I had to run through the live butterfly room (not the most composed I have been in an art gallery), whilst my OH spent a lot of time admiring them and letting them fly around him.
You must be quite brave to get close to them.

[Cupcake]

Wow, they are lovely pictures, such vibrant colours and interesting markings. I do think they are beautiful creatures to look at (I have 12 tattoo'd on my back, designed by my nearest and dearest, with another 5 to go) but I am absolutely petrified of them. Last Easter I went to see the Damien Hirst exhibition at the Tate Modern, I'm afraid I had to run through the live butterfly room (not the most composed I have been in an art gallery), whilst my OH spent a lot of time admiring them and letting them fly around him.
You must be quite brave to get close to them.

Polo it's quite different for us, I was running after them and getting all excited when a bunch decided to sit on my camera bag and my boyfriend was absolutely terrified and quite upset that he could not wave them off haha :lol: as we weren't allowed to touch them. I hate seeing dead insects and all insects in general, but live butterflies are absolutely wonderful to behold :D and this event is only available between the months of February and April in the botanical gardens (they allow the butterflies to pollinate flowers)

[Eriklover555]

Awww, how beautiful! I love butterflies ^^

[Polo]

Polo it's quite different for us, I was running after them and getting all excited when a bunch decided to sit on my camera bag and my boyfriend was absolutely terrified and quite upset that he could not wave them off haha :lol: as we weren't allowed to touch them. I hate seeing dead insects and all insects in general, but live butterflies are absolutely wonderful to behold :D and this event is only available between the months of February and April in the botanical gardens (they allow the butterflies to pollinate flowers)

Hehe, I'd definitely be the one running around in that situation, I dislike anything with more than 4 legs. I can admire them from a distance though and the idea of them being used in the botanical gardens as part of the yearly pollination cycle is lovely.

[DrKMcK]

I love butterflies and have been lucky enough to have them in my garden in the summer months. I get so thrilled when I get the Monarchs :-). The photos are wonderful. Isn't it amazing how nature has the butterflies have so many different designs and colors? Thank you for sharing this with us. :-D

[HollyHamster]

I love butterflies!!

I have raised some butterflies from tiny larvae into adults using that butterfly garden set from Insect Lore. I felt kind of silly doing that, but meh, I always wanted to raise butterflies ever since I saw my 7th grade Science teacher do it. Of course, they were common painted lady butterflies, but I enjoyed watching them grow and all.

Before then, I raised some eastern swallowtail butterflies. I always plant parsley every spring for them to lay their eggs on and one year I really wanted to raise them, so I took a handful of the parsley with their hatched larvae on the leaves and put it in a critter keeper, where they matured into adults. Then I let them go.

I even have a butterfly house and a butterfly feeder for any wandering butterfly to use, but I've never seen them use either. Oh well.

Also, I never understood lepidopterophobia, the fear of butterflies and moths, but to each his/her own I guess.

[linford27]

Ooh! I went to something like this once! And we hatch catterpillars into butterflies every year then release them! Just Painted Lady's though, nothing fancy.

[Kaztrekie]

Wow they are beautiful my daughters loves them and her bedroom is covered in them ,we raise some each summer and release them in the garden it's great to see we don't many round here.

[amie]

Lovely photos.

I once saw a wild Monarch in the UK which had flown here all the way from the US. It was very exciting to see especially as it had come from so far away.

In the UK we attract butterflies to our garden (but no Monarchs as yet!) with buddleia bushes and get dozens of butterflies on them. You can now buy miniature buddleais in pots and they proved popular with last summer's butterflies too.

Have you got buddleia in your garden, Kaztrekie?

[HollyHamster]

Its sad that the butterflies, like the Monarch, are vast becoming fewer and fewer. Monarchs only lay their eggs on the milkweed plant. Its a very nondescript plant, which has a very unique defense mechanism. When an insect, like a monarch caterpillar, bites into it, it secretes a vast amount of sticky milk colored sap, engulfing and killing the poor caterpillar. Hence its name, milkweed. However, monarch caterpillars aren't without a defense of their own. They crawl to the stem of the leaf, bite into it, at least the smart ones do, and quickly withdraw before the sap gets them stuck. This action leaves the leaf drained of its sap, and the caterpillar can now eat the leaf without fear of being trapped.

Anyways, the milkweed is seen as a pesky weed and usually removed, leaving the poor Monarch butterflies without many places to lay their eggs, and the caterpillars to grow up.

[iwasbornwright]

Wow! They are absolutely incredible! I adore butterflies, I think they're fascinating. Thank you so much for posting this :D

[Kaztrekie]

Not yet amie but I will this year my garden is always the last thing to get done been trying to get it right for 6 years and still not there yet sigh..

[pinkneon]

I LOVE butterflies! My dream is to have a bedroom one day that is pink, glittery and covered in butterflies (obviously not real ones!) and bubbles!

[HollyHamster]

All this talk has me wanting to rear butterflies again. :roll:

[Biscuit]

They're amazing photos! Great colours too! :) x

[purple_x]

Beautiful :)
I'll be visiting a butterfly sanctuary this year and I am so excited!
I LOVE butterflies.

I hatched and released my own painted ladies last summer, it was amazing.
Will definitely be doing it again this summer.

[LavoChain]

Beautiful :)
I'll be visiting a butterfly sanctuary this year and I am so excited!
I LOVE butterflies.

I hatched and released my own painted ladies last summer, it was amazing.
Will definitely be doing it again this summer.

Wow, I really am very jealous. I adore butterflies but I've never really been closer to one than the odd one we used to get in our old garden. Unfortunately I have a yard now so no butterflies. I'd love to go to a sanctuary.

OP- Those are amazing photographs, I wish I were that good at taking photos.

[Cupcake]

First I'd like to say I am really glad this thread is so popular! and that a lot of you seem to love butterflies, I'm really really happy I decided to share this on HC and tbh I didn't expect people to be so into butterflies. I'd love to raise butterflies, but since most of my family is creeped by them I can't really :( I find all butterflies so wonderful and unique!!! :D
Second, thank you to all the nice compliments regarding the photos, @LavoChain not that hard taking photos when you have a good camera and patience! (especially with wildlife, as they were so unpredictable and had irregular flying patterns) and what you see here are only a few from the 400 I actually took that day :lol:

Since this was so well receive by everyone, I will definitely go next year too and get some new photos and hopefully be able to spend more time there and get some other species too. Probably the one I regret having missed and not being able to find afterwards was the Glasswinged butterfly aka Greta Oto :shock: so gorgeous yet so hard to track down.

[gutterglitterxx]

These are absolutely gorgeous! And your photos have captures their details so beautifully. I love the little guy that hasn't been identified... Wings look like tiger stripes. :)

[Cupcake]

I knowww :( I wish I could find him, I've been looking through butterfly webpages, and I see some that could be related to him, but none that look like him

[Pompompoms]

I absolutely love butterflies, and your pictures are beautiful. A couple of years ago I went to Kew gardens and went into the butterfly house which was lovely as they fly all around and land on you :D