Great Cabbage White after a cold and damp night, waking up in the scant morning sun.

by Marjolein Zijlstra

Butterflies often spend the night on flowers, on their food source and if possible also camouflage.
This cabbage white sat at dusk on a flowering white chive and did not stand out at all until I dropped to my knees to grab something and its silhouette stood out against the sky. By then I had taken some nice photos's and got up in time to have another look at the butterfly in the morning. She was still there, wet from the morning dew, chilled from the night cold and waiting to be warmed up by rising sun.
Was able to take a couple of photos's with macro lens from tripod making the water droplets on the delicate wings a brilliant addition.
Pieris brassicae, Latin name for the Great White Swallowtail is of course a common butterfly, however this situation still allowed to create a distinct image, with also the semi-transparent effect of its wings, the black dots of the inside visible on the closed outside. Over the course of the morning, it was the sun that brought life back to this fragile creature, and after some time, she has again fluttered about the day, visiting many flowers in my garden and the surrounding area. The relatively short life of this butterfly has been immortalised in this print and I hope he or she may fill a beautiful wall somewhere and live on.