Butterflies: White Admiral

Note: there is also an American butterfly with the same name (aka red-spotted purple), but that is a different species called Limenitis arthemis.

The Eurasian white admiral (Limenitis camilla), kleine ijsvogelvlinder in Dutch, is a rare butterfly in The Netherlands, and on the Red List as "vulnerable". Loss of forest habitat and dessication of soil caused by agriculture have had an impact on the populations here.

It is a fairly large butterfly with a wing span of about 6cm (2.4"), and easy to spot, but you have to know where to find them: they live in woodlands and feed on bramble blossom and honeydew, and lay eggs on honeysuckle.

I have only seen one twice, but I did manage to get three photos:

^{Olympus Stylus 1s, 300mm, ISO200, f5.6, 1/250s}

^{Olympus Stylus 1s, 300mm, ISO100, f5.6, 1/800s}

^{Olympus Stylus 1s, 300mm, ISO125, f5.6, 1/500s}

All photos were taken in a region in the east of The Netherlands called Twente, where these butterflies are doing relatively well.

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