White Admiral query

[Rambling Rob]

Hello,

Late this afternoon I watched a couple of White Admirals flying among the sweet chestnut in Borthwood Copse, IoW. This is the only one I photographed up close - luckily it descended to feed on the ground right in front of me. Is it a male would you say? The illustration in the book I'm looking at has small patches of orange on the upper wings although I don't see any on this one.



Thanks for looking, Rob

[GuyF]

Nice shot Rob! I'd say that this is a male. The orange patches seem to vary greatly and they're completely absent in a lot of butterflies, but I think they may be slightly more frequent in female White Admirals than in males.
Guy

[Rambling Rob]

Thanks Guy. This isn't the first butterfly species I've had trouble with telling m from f! Rob