His Royal highness!

Sometimes I have really daft ideas, and doing a 400 mile round trip to photograph the British Swallowtail butterfly Papilio machaon ss britannicus, was certainly up there with the best! 
I am very lucky that my lovely friends Sara & Leslie live in Colchester and I was able to spend 2 nights with them, or I may well have given up! 
These shots are of one single specimen at Strumpshaw fen in the Norfolk broads near Norwich. On arriving it was obvious every single person with an expensive camera and huge lens had also had the same idea, and I felt a bit insignificant with my Canon 100d and 60mm macro! However it all paid off in the end, because having sat down by the reserve garden to have a drink and a piece of cake this stunning beauty just winged in right in front of me, and I was able to get a few shots before the 'big' lens' arrived!
I love these butterflies, they are so huge and majestic, with such presence, every bit the royalty of the world of Lepidoptera!
The British swallowtail (ssp britanicus) is a very fussy creature whose larvae will only eat Milk parsley, which is only found in the wetlands on the broads around Norfolk, hence the 400 mile round trip!
I have always loved them, especially the yellow and black stripy body!