Pete - I don't think I'd like to live in a land where Orange-tips are forced into retreat by climate change :( Will they head northwards then? Gibster. they are already here! ;) 30 years ago an OT around Glasgow would have been a very rare sighting (despite them being further North e.g. Morayshire)...

Hope that Santa brings you all what you want!
& a happy 2012 to everyone too.

i like Orange Tips, Green Hairstreaks are a personal favourite, I'm fond of Chequered Skippers & Marsh Frits but I think that the 1 that I'm looking forward to most next year is the Small Blue - hopefully next year our BC branch will be attempting to re-introduce them back to South West Scotland...

and as IS enabes me to hold the camera/lens steady at slower shutterspeed I have to take care freeze subject movement. Comments regarding this and other issues connected with the subject i.e. depth of field have been extremely helpful in aiding my choice of a new 'butterfly lens' - maybe a Sigma 15...

"The survival expert explores the South Downs, starting from Beachy Head, and examines some of the 39 species of butterfly recorded as using its chalk downlands as a habitat, including the Adonis blue"

Repeat of series made in 2007 but still good. This episode was on BBC4 last night but also available on iplayer http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00cskdd/Born_to_be_Wild_Butterflies/ "Series on amateur naturalists focuses on those immersed in the strange and colourful world of butterflies a...

the prevailing opinion up here seems to be that CS at Glasdrum are pretty much over for the year. That doesn't mean that there aren't a few somewhere but they were out very early this year ~4th of May. The beauty of Glasdrum is that it's so accessible - indeed CS often seen in the carpark- however t...

Hi folks, :D Long time lurker & felt that it was about time that I joined if only so that I could moan about our weather & lack of species to balance the books of all you lucky southerners ... I'm an active member of the local BC branch (& less active member of several other wildlife con...

Perhaps Transparent Burnet? http://southwestscotland-butterflies.org.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/transparent-burnet-neil-gregory1.jpg These are in Argyll & if caught in wind the wings could easily be erect as per the Cinnabar above. If so I'm sure that the local recorder Andrew Masterman ...