IMAGE OF THE MONTH

SEPTEMBER 2016

Peacock Butterfly feeding on dandelion

It was a glorious day on the East Coast photographing the Gannets at Troup Head, I was surprised to still see so many. The juveniles have now lost all their downy feathers and one can been seen at the bottom of the dandelion.  Their feathers are now black, speckled with white spots. They are now bigger than the adults and were ready to make the long migration to West Africa.

On the walk back to the car, I always stop to wish the gannets well on their journey and hope to see them next year (did I really just admit that!). At the point I was going to leave through the gate I noticed this particular dandelion was attracting a lot of insects, I saw the beautiful peacock butterfly immediately and then a small tortoiseshell and a moth, so I thought this was a photo opportunity I could not ignore so back out with the camera, they were not bothered by me and were happily feasting on the dandelion, the biggest challenge was getting a nice clean background without going too near to the edge of the cliff!