My number one Butterfly target for this year 'was' the Large Tortoiseshell.
My nature watching colleagues of mainland Europe are likely to say
"Large Tortoiseshell - so whats the big deal - they are quite common"
In all the butterfly books it will inform that this species is extinct in UK.
In fact it was last abundant back in the 1940's. However some have more recently been released from captive bred stock by Entomologists in an effort to re-introduce and as a result of this, small numbers can be found in a few locations in the south coast areas.
One such location is the Isle of Portland where this week I was fortunate to be able to photograph a male and female of the species.
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Male |
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Female |