My history of managing to photograph Swallowtails normally ends up on the bad pictures thread or in the delete bin. I tend to get terribly over excited and for good reason. Swallowtails are incredibly rare on the Island. They are usually migratory. There used to be a very small colony to the East years ago which was lost due to an error of land management. Fast forward to a couple of years ago and a few blew (3 maybe 4) in from France and luckily they were male and female and they bred and some cats were seen and this year at least one has been seen. I've not been to look for it, there have been enough spotters going to disturb it from feeding.
Last week I went to do my big site and as I parked and put together all my kit my brain went -- Oh look, Swallowtail moving at speed - lost sight of it at a cliff edge and although I checked around felt that it was quite possibly heading out to sea and towards the other Islands at some speed. I did look around again when I came back from doing my transect but no sight.
Today was a whole different matter. When I finished my transect for some reason I checked Facebook to find a local wildlife photographer had spotted one being harassed by Common Blues and he mentioned where on the site so I went for a quick look not expecting any luck but boy oh boy it was still there despite Blues and Graylings giving it a very hard time
It's been a glorious day and this was the icing on the cake
CinJ