News Items

This article provides information on the relevance of entomological collections and collecting. It also reviews recent literature and provides the reader with a perspective on the reasoning behind the responsible collecting of specimens and the formation of a collection, and provides examples of the use of such specimens.

Congratulations to John Bogle, Neil Hulme and Nigel Kiteley - 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the annual 2014 UK Butterflies Annual Photography Competition! With a stunning photo of a Marbled White, John wins a copy of The Video Guide to the Butterflies of Britain and Ireland (DVD) which has been kindly donated by NatureGuides. Click here to see all of the winning entries.

This new article, by Liz Goodyear and Andrew Middleton, updates their previous reports: The Hertfordshire Purple Emperor, the Purple Emperor Project Progress Report for 2003 and the Purple Emperor Project Progress Report for 2004 and 2005. These reports all relate to the Eastern Region that covers Hertfordshire, Middlesex (Vice-County 21), Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire. This report provides a 2013-14 update and also contains historic information that adds to past reports.

This article provides a personal view of captive rearing butterflies and moths. Its main objective is to enlighten readers in all aspects of captive rearing so that they develop an informed opinion and are also better-equipped should they attempt captive rearing themselves and thereby avoid the many potential pitfalls.

The presence of the Mountain Ringlet (Erebia epiphron) in Ireland has been a topic of much interest to Lepidopterists for decades, partly because of the small number of specimens that are reputedly Irish. The Irish Mountain Ringlet is truly the stuff of legend! This updated article summarises relevant literature and now includes photos of all four reputedly-Irish specimens.

This new article, by Peter Andrews, provides a brief historical account of the Mazarine Blue (Cyaniris semiargus) in the British Isles and, in doing so, makes observations that have either not been previously documented or have not been appropriately emphasised, with regard to the habitat, distribution, flight times and extinction of this species.

From the publisher: From the publisher: A lavishly illustrated, photographic, guide to our habitats and provides a comprehensive overview of the natural history and conservation landscape of Britain and Ireland. It leads the reader through all the main habitat types, with information on their characteristics, extent, geographical variation, key species, cultural importance, origins and conservation. Click here to read the review.

This edition of Notes and Views provides a retrospective of interesting items posted on UK Butterflies and other media before 1st October 2014. Click here to read this edition.

From the publisher: A comprehensive guide by Paul D. Brock, Scientific Associate of the Natural History Museum, London, and author of the acclaimed 'Photographic Guide to Insects of the New Forest' is the most complete guide to insects of Britain and Ireland ever produced with over 2700 full colour photographs and fully comprehensive sections on all insect groups, including flies, bees and wasps. Click here to read the review.

The UK Butterflies 2014 Annual Photography Competition is now open for entries! In keeping with the online nature of the UK Butterflies website, the competition itself will be conducted entirely over the web. The competition closes on November 30th and the winning photos will be announced in early December. The overall winner will receive a copy of The Video Guide to the Butterflies of Britain and Ireland (DVD) which has been kindly donated by NatureGuides. Click here for information on how to enter.

The second of two Outstanding Contribution Awards for 2014 has been awarded to Vince Massimo, a long-serving member of the UK Butterflies core team. Vince has been instrumental in helping build the community aspects of UK Butterflies and actively engages with the membership by selecting images to be used on the various species pages. Given the level of contribution by UKB members, this is no small task. Vince is also known for his superb studies of the early stages of species that are local to him. This was recognised by several individuals as Vince received his award, when Vince was presented with a signed Richard Lewington print of his favourite butterfly: the Orange-tip.

Today sees one of the most exciting events in the history of the UK Butterflies website, as we launch a companion website, dispar, at www.dispar.org. With an ever-growing membership contributing a large number of posts on the UK Butterflies forums, the time has come for a new vehicle to be put in place that will allow significant contributions to be extracted and shared more widely. This includes formal cataloging of articles so that they may be located by anyone looking to research a particular aspect of Lepidoptera.

With the launch of our sister website, dispar, comes 3 new articles. They are a A Tale of Six Grayling by Peter Eeles, Speckled Wood (Early Stages) by Vince Massimo and Long-tailed Blue in Sussex - A Brief History by Mark Colvin. Remember that contributions can be made by anyone with an interest in Lepidoptera, so please head over to dispar and put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard)!

The first of two Outstanding Contribution Awards for 2014 has been awarded to the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. This is in recognition of the incredible amount of support and encouragement that the Hope Department of Entomology and Library, in particular, have provided to UK Butterflies over recent years. This is the first time that the award has been given to an organisation, rather than an individual, and is in special recognition of the role that the museum has played in helping bring the UK Butterflies website to a whole new level.

A number of Map butterflies were recently seen near Swanage in Dorset, leading to speculation about their origin. In this article Neil Hulme explores the origins of these butterflies and also shares his observations of the behaviour of this delightful little butterfly whose range is rapidly expanding in northern Europe.

If 2013 is remembered for Long-tailed Blue and continental Swallowtail sightings, then 2014 will be remembered for sightings of Scarce Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis xanthomelas), also known as the Yellow-legged Tortoiseshell. Sightings are coming in from the south-eastern counties in England, following an influx in the Netherlands in the last couple of weeks. Up-to-date information can be found in this thread.

From the publisher: This easy-to-use identification guide to the 280 butterfly species most commonly seen in Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand is perfect for resident and visitor alike. High quality photographs from the area's top nature photographers are accompanied by detailed species descriptions which include nomenclature, size, distribution, habits and habitat. The user-friendly introduction covers geography and climate, vegetation, opportunities for naturalists and the main sites for viewing the listed species. Click here to read the review, by Guy Padfield.

From the publisher: The Butterflies of Britain & Ireland provides comprehensive coverage of all our resident and migratory butterflies, including the latest information on newly discovered species such as Cryptic Wood and the Geranium Bronze. The Butterflies of Britain and Ireland is widely considered not only the best butterfly book ever published but also one of the classic nature books. Now revised again to reflect the latest research findings, and with up-to-date distribution maps, this remarkable book is THE guide to the appearance, behaviour, life cycle and ecology of the butterflies of Britain and Ireland. Click here to read the review.

The Duke of Burgundy has declined rapidly in the last 20 years and Natural England is keen to learn more about its distribution, abundance and ecological requirements in Gloucestershire. This information will help them to assess management on their NNRs and SSSIs, draw up a long-term plan for landscape-scale conservation for the species, and hopefully, answer difficult questions like when to reintroduce the butterfly to a former site and when to let it recolonize naturally. Click here to see how you can help.

Regular visitors to UK Butterflies will be aware of the excellent studies on immature stages conducted by Vince Massimo. These have now been made into a series of articles and the newest article, looking at the Green-veined White, can be found here.

Although the Long-tailed Blue (Lampides boeticus) is one of the rarest migrants to the British Isles, it is one of the most-widely distributed Lycaenids in the world, being found throughout southern Europe, Africa, southern Asia, India and Australia, extending eastwards to parts of Oceania including Hawaii. 2013 was an exciting year for many migrant species, particularly in the southern counties and L. boeticus once again appeared in the UK. In this article Mark Colvin shares his personal observations in rearing the Long-tailed Blue.

Several books have been reviewed over the last few weeks - covering butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies. Butterflies of Corfu has been reviewed by Guy Padfield, Britain's Dragonflies has been reviewed by Guy Padfield and Mark Colvin, and Guy Padfield has reviewed Dragonflies and Damselflies of the West (2009) & Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East (2011) and Dragonflies and Damselflies of Texas and the South-Central United States.

UK Butterflies team member, Vince Massimo, shares his thoughts on observing early stages in this new article. As Vince says in the article, "There is no doubting the beauty of butterflies and how they make us feel, but the adult stage of these ephemeral creatures only accounts for one of four stages of the lifecycle. A point which is often overlooked, therefore, is that over 75% of the life cycle of a butterfly is spent in an immature stage as either as an egg, larva, or pupa, and is usually completely inconspicuous". Click here to read more.

Fancy spending six weeks in June and July as a Large Blue Ranger volunteer? Collard Hill, near Street, is owned by the National Trust and is the only Large Blue site in the UK with public access. The post offers an unrivalled opportunity to work closely with Britain's foremost butterfly experts to conserve this fragile and complex species, to gain invaluable experience learning about limestone grassland ecology on a SSSI, and to strengthen communication skills through leading a team of volunteers and talking to the public. Applications for the post are now being taken up until Friday 28th March. Click here for more information.

Regular visitors to UK Butterflies will be aware of the excellent studies on immature stages conducted by Vince Massimo. These have now been made into a series of articles and the first batch, looking at Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock and Comma, can be found here, here and here respectively.

From the author: James Charles Dale spent much of his adult life studying entomology. He was undoubtedly one of the most influential entomologists of his time, and his collections, spanning numerous insect orders, are probably the single most important and comprehensive to have ever been compiled in the British Isles. Click here to read the article on Dale by Mark Colvin.

A series of How-To videos has been produced that shows visitors how to make the most of the UK Butterflies website. A variety of topics are covered, including information on how to join the forums, make posts, submit images, create a personal diary and so on. Click here to see the full selection of videos available.

UK Butterflies is pleased to announce a donation of £1670 to Butterfly Conservation. The donation comes from sales of calendars, cards and photos - once again organised by Gary and Lisa Richardson.

December 2013 saw the release of the Checklist of the Lepidoptera of the British Isles by David Agassiz, Stella Beavan and Robert Heckford. This is the first major taxonomy update since Bradley and Bradley in 2000. UK Butterflies has been amended to reflect the changes in this new work. Click here to see a summary of these changes.

Visitors are now able to add any videos uploaded to YouTube to a new video gallery that has been added to UK Butterflies. This new feature allows, in particular, behaviour that is difficult to capture in a still photograph to be shown, such as this video of a courting pair of Cryptic Wood White or this video of a courting pair of Grayling. Click here for more details.