Flutterbyes
Here’s a flying Swallowtail butterfly, Papilio machaon:
![Swallowtail Butterfly - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Butterfly-The-Hall-of-Einar-6-725x484.jpg)
It’s a little tattered but beautiful all the same:
![Swallowtail Butterfly - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Butterfly-The-Hall-of-Einar-9-725x483.jpg)
Here’s a perfect example of how searching out a background can completely change the mood of an image. The butterfly is still battered and old though.
![Swallowtail Butterfly - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Swallowtail-Butterfly-The-Hall-of-Einar-2-725x483.jpg)
The dry white seed-heads and the azure sky give this a completely different feel.
![Swallowtail Butterfly - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Swallowtail-Butterfly-The-Hall-of-Einar-1710-725x483.jpg)
Here’s one on a giant thistle, this time in perfect condition.
![Swallowtail Butterfly - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Swallowtail-Butterfly-The-Hall-of-Einar--725x483.jpg)
It has a tongue which seems longer than its legs, which I will too, soon, in this heat.
And here’s an in-flight Clouded Yellow butterfly, Colias croceus, tongue neatly packed and coiled for travel:
![Clouded Yellow Butterfly - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Butterfly-The-Hall-of-Einar-3-725x483.jpg)
That was quite a tricky shot, given how fast-moving they are. Have you seen how its proboscis is in perfect focus? Here it is extended and in use, with its lovely spotted green eyes:
![Clouded Yellow Butterfly - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Clouded-Yellow-Butterfly-The-Hall-of-Einar-3-725x483.jpg)
There’s a Common Blue, Polyommatus icarus:
![Common Blue Butterfly - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Common-Blue-Butterfly-The-Hall-of-Einar--483x725.jpg)
And a blue butterfly I haven’t identified yet.
![Blue Butterfly - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Blue-Butterfly-The-Hall-of-Einar-2-725x484.jpg)
Here’s a Queen of Spain Fritillary, Issoria lathonia, with amazing sliver patches on its wings:
![Queen of Spain Fritillary Butterfly - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Queen-of-Spain-Fritillary-Butterfly-The-Hall-of-Einar-2-484x725.jpg)
And this one may be an Eastern Bath White, Pontia edusa, on a mission to another source of nectar, but with a spider awaiting
![White Butterfly - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)](https://www.thehallofeinar.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/White-Butterfly-The-Hall-of-Einar-6-725x483.jpg)
Beautiful, aren’t they?