Large White's Solar Panels

I read a very interesting article in the paper the day before yesterday about the large white butterfly. I tried to get a pic of one to Blip yesterday but didn't manage it. Jazzy and I went down the field fairly early this morning and some were already on the wing. These butterflies are usually the first to take flight. They sit in the sunshine with their wings at an angle of 17 degrees in a process called reflectance basking. It has been found  that structures in the butterflies’ wings allow the light from the sun to be reflected most efficiently, ensuring that the flight muscles are warmed to an optimal temperature as quickly as possible. “This proves that the lowly Cabbage White is not just a pest of your cabbages but actually an insect that is an expert at harvesting solar energy,” said Professor Richard ffrench-Constant, who conducts world-leading research into butterfly mimicry at the University of Exeter. A team of experts from the University have shown that mimicking the v-shaped posture adopted by Cabbage Whites to heat up their flight muscles before take-off, can raise the amount of solar power by nearly 50 per cent. The team created a lightweight reflective material which mimicked the design and could be used in solar energy production.

Biomimicry is not new, the designer of Velcro copied the hooks of burdock in my pic for his fastening.

I'm surprised that the Exeter team called the butterfly a cabbage white, I thought we were meant to call them large whites these days. I enjoyed watching one have a duel with a brimstone this morning. The pair kept spiralling into the air and then coming down on the same thistle flower where they would jostle and take to the air together again. This went on for ages. Eventually the large white left the spear thistle area and landed right on top of a very well camouflaged hairy shield bug sitting on a meadow thistle bud which amused me. :)