Clouded Yellow (Colias crocea)

Although we get an influx of migrant Clouded Yellows most years it always gives me bit of a thrill to see one. I suppose, when you first glimpse one, you know you have seen something slightly out of the ordinary.

Last year, when I took this photograph, they were about in good numbers; this year I have not seen one! There is still time, of course, as one can see them right through in to November if the weather remains warm.

In some years they arrive earlier and those adults lay eggs which hatch out to give even greater numbers when the autumn arrivals hit land. Sadly, any eggs laid by the autumn team are doomed to die when the temperatures drop later in the winter.

Seeing one close up under the camera lens one can't help but be struck by its large green eyes and its brown toupee!

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