Flight of fancy

There’s lots of butterfly activity in the garden this afternoon - mostly whites, but with occasional visits from other varieties. Generally, these are just fly-pasts, cursory glances at our floral offerings before moving on.  Even when they do land, they seem to select places that are difficult to access with my camera. 

There seems to be a degree of butterfly flirtation too, pairs of whites flitting round each other. Capturing butterflies in motion is always something of a challenge, so I’m surprised that a couple of my shots capture more than just a blur of wings - and more so to discover the action in today’s main! 

I spend some time going down the rabbit hole of research into butterfly mating habits - as you do! This seems very different from the more demure side-by-side activities usually seen, but it seems this behaviour is seen in small whites/cabbage whites-  though are these green veined whites? The link below demonstrates the behaviour, and further information can be found in Gen2’s comment, explaining the female’s (the lower butterfly) is actually  rejecting rather than inviting the male! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1Qy5d_qHDA

This garden safari is most welcome after my morning appointment in Liverpool. This is the appointment that was brought forward following my cancelled surgery so I can finally start the immunosuppressant, Methotrexate. A once a week dose, increasing every two weeks for the next six weeks, with daily doses of folic acid to protect the liver - I’m just hoping that it works! They’re the tiniest tablets that I’ve ever seen - and the first time I’ve had the instructions to wash hands thoroughly after handling them! I was rather hoping they’d have the ‘wired’ impact of steroids, but apparently they may make me feel tired - just what I need! Anyway, it’s likely to be a while before I see any benefits - fingers crossed!