Finally, to finish off my posts on Rye Meads nature reserve, the butterflies. It was a beautiful spring day and there were a fair few about, mostly the species shown below. I took all of these photos with an 80-400mm zoom lens at the 400mm end which can only focus about 6.5 feet away as a minimum. I think they've come out remarkably well, and this approach has the advantage of not having to get really close to the butterfly, scaring it off as you might with a macro lens. Maybe I've stumbled into a brilliant new butterfly photography technique! Remember that as always you can click on any photo for a larger version.
This is a Comma butterfly, notable for the shapely edge to its wing. It's known as a Comma because of the small comma shaped mark on the underside of the wing, but you'll rarely see that.
Next, an Orange-tip butterfly on a Dandelion. The name is fairly self-explanatory. For the plant as well frankly.
And finally a Peacock butterfly, with the classic eyes on the wings to scare off predators. I somehow overcame my terror and got close enough to photograph it with as much detail as a 400mm lens at 6.5 feet will allow!