I'm fiddling with my pair of Pentax 8.5x21 and can't see any eye relief problem. Pentax don't use the old "fold over the rubber eyepiece" but have a hard adjustable eyepiece for those of us who can remember when wire framed specs on the National Health cost 10/6. I've had mine for four yea...

Red Admiral wanting ski lessons.
This one was flying today and landed on the tractor an hour or so before the snow reached here in south Surrey. Being sleepy I was able to take it and it's now on a shelf in the tractor shed.

Goldie M wrote:This morning on BBC News it said the Monarch Butterflies have just arrived in Mexico and there's some great video's showing them Goldie

There's a short video at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30559133

Looks as if it is ripe for aerial spraying with Azulox if it comes back on the temporary ticket next year The wimps would have to be moved first.

Crafter, Tim. Foodplant List for the Caterpillars of Britain's Butterflies and Larger Moths. 124pp. Ppbd. Holmfirth: Atropos Publishing, 2005. ISBN 0955108608

If you haven't got a spare pony about your person - I flailed my field last month, leaving the hay to drop seed for a week or so before gathering. I top the field again about March at about 3-4 inches to cut the winter's growth of grass. Then sit back and enjoy it until the thistle seeds are suffici...

I'd say a Riband Wave http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=4170. The red of the door may well make the colour stronger than the moth actually is, though they are variable in colour. There is a form without the dark band.

Thanks for the evolutionary explanation because for a number of years I have been watching our two "cabbage" Whites laying on Horseradish Armoracia rusticana a brassica. Last year with the large increase in Whites I was searching for caterpillars because I could see no damage to the leaves...

It look like a Six-spot Burnet to me. The red patch at the base of the wing which is divided by a vein counts as two spots. If it were a Five-spot there would just be a single spot at the other end of the wing.
http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=241

Can anyone suggest a suitable DVD of butterflies doing their things for a senile, eyesight isn't what it was, old fule. I am finding that I have increasing difficulty in recognising similar colours and need to rely on their jizz, especially with those whites, but a Red Admiral, Peacock and Tortoises...

I reckon I can make it to the next county, save a space for me please.

I hadn't realised quite how much cowslip seed must have been in the mix that I sowed in this part of the field; this must now be about its fourth season. The butterflies don't seem to visit it but my moth counts are up and the bumble bee varieties and numbers seem greater than in previous years. Cow...

Dog owners, flutterby hunters and pedestrians beware of Botany Bay. The tick numbers are the highest that I have heard of. A neigbour's light coloured dog had 38 on his coat whilst a black dog was still having ticks removed three days later.

why the paranoia? I am not 'paranoid' about it (well just a bit maybe :wink: ). It is in my parents garden and they live with it and keep me informed. Any advice is helpful :D I wasn't suggesting that you were paranoid about anything (at least not as much as I am), it was just that Ailanthus altiss...

If this is the stinking shumac, Ailanthus altissima then it shouldn't be giving you any problems. They are vigorous and in many countries listed as an invasive species. Beekeepers like it though others will stick it in the same class as grey squirrels, rhododendron ponticum, Turkey Oak etc. Propagat...

Any chance of Natural England becoming extinct? I once ask them for the reason that there is an SSSI a mile from here and was told that I wouldn't understand because it was a geological outcrop

You are perfectly right. I should have taken out the top soil when I first started but finances constrained me and strangely, a mistake by Ordnance Survey! The corner of the field was called "Hungry Corner" on the modern maps and the locals insisted that it was called this because of the l...

I don't know how effective it is but doesn't yellow rattle knock grasses back? It does but only in certain grasses, no rattle has established in this particular patch that I have taken against. I once sowed a kilo of rattle seed over the whole meadow and it does well in places but this patch of abo...

Vince,

I don't think that it is fair that new users should be allowed to post pictures and create albums that put me to shame. There should be a sort of apprenticeship period to protect the sensibilities of those of us who can't take a decent picture of a butterfly.

Thanks for the contributions. I'm bored with the "one species one solution" brigade so I'll stick to pragmatism. As an example, part of my wildflower field has failed because of the coarse species of grass in one particular area. Glyphosate had had limited effect so I am going to resow wit...