WHITES


58.006 Large White eggs on broccoli, Skircoat Green allotments, Aug. 4th 2014.

58.006 Large White eggs as above and photographed the same day. As they begin to colour up hatching is imminent.

58.006 Large White 2nd instar caterpillars with shed skins and head capsules - three days after the above eggs hatched.

58.006 Large White caterpillars on cabbage, Skircoat Green allotments, June 28th 09. These are not really a pest as they only nibble the outer leaves and are not nearly as destructive as Wood Pigeons - besides, who eats a whole cabbage anyway?

58.006 Large White, one of three nectaring on Creeping Thistles at the quarry above Hollin Hall, Hardcastle Crags on July 20th 2023. 
A visually underrated butterfly in my view.

58.007 Small White egg on kale, Skircoat Green allotments, May 7th 2011. Photo taken through a 20x microscope eyepiece.

58.007 Small White, a newly hatched caterpillar at 2mm long, May 7th 2011. Reared from the egg pictured above.

58.007 Small White caterpillar at 3 weeks old, May 28th 2011. Reared from the egg pictured above.

58.007 Small White pupa, June 5th. A silk pad secures the rear end to the substrate as does a silk girdle around the middle. The wing  pattern is clearly visible through the now transparent pupal case shortly before emergence.

58.007 Small White pupa on marjoram, Skircoat Green allotments, Aug. 14th 2012. As usual the larva has wandered before finding a suitable place to pupate, in this case probably from the nearby brussel sprout plant.

58.008 Green-veined White pupa on a Sycamore trunk by the towpath at Copley, Jan.1st 2014. I removed it from the trunk to rear through just to confirm its identity (see below).

58.008 Green-veined White pupa (details as above). As I haven't really done any mothing in the last 12 moths the pupa cuts a lonely figure in the rearing tub which is left in the garage over winter. 

58.008 Green-veined White reared from the pupa pictured above, Mar. 14th 2014. It's resting on top of the flower pot the pupa was in with not a scale out of place.

58.008 Green-veined White at Mathew Laithe near Lob Mill, Todmorden on May 31st 2014.

58.003 Orange-tip egg on Garlic Mustard, next to the tow path at Copley, May 14th 2011. Although tiny, the bright orange egg is quite visible to the naked eye and is one of the easiest of all butterfly eggs to find.

58.003 Orange-tip egg found on Garlic Mustard by the Calder at Milner Royd, May 9th 2011. Taken through a 20x microscope eyepiece.

58.003 Orange-tip, a newly hatched caterpillar at 2mm long feeding on Garlic Mustard, May 11th 2011. Photographed through a 20x microscope eyepiece. As with the newly hatched Small White caterpillar above the hairs are tipped with a globules of liquid. For what reason I'm not quite sure. 

58.003 Orange-tip caterpillar, May 20th 2011. Nine days old and blending in well with the Garlic Mustard stem.

58.003 Orange-tip pre-pupal caterpillar on May 27th 2011. A week on and the caterpillar has spun a pad of silk at the rear end and a strand of silk around its middle to anchor itself to the twig.

58.003 Orange-tip pupa, May 29th 2011. Two days later and an amazing transformation has taken place.

58.003 Orange-tip pupa (male), Mar. 30th 2012. The following spring the pupa is a much better camouflaged shade of brown to match the twig. The orange tips of the wings are now beginning to show through. 

58.003 Orange-tip freshly emerged next to a pupa close to emerging, Apr.1st 2012. 

58.003 Orange-tip (male) nectaring on Dandelion by the towpath near Elland by-pass, May 11th 05. 

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