I too live in W.Sussex (for part of the year!) - there are many fantastic places for butterflies. The Butterfly Conservation website for Sussex you will find is a great resource: http://www.sussex-butterflies.org.uk/ There is a section with maps for the distributions of all of our resident species, ...

Hey folks, here's my latest news from Devon: A short walk on the 6th June around Creason Wood at Horndon unfortunately didn't reveal any Marsh Fritillaries as I had hoped, but I did find two SPBFs, along with Speckled Woods, a Small Copper, Green-veined and Large Whites. Other highlights included Ro...

Guy is obviously a lot better at this than me -- I got the same questions wrong but with the added extras of questions 3, 7 and 9.

Dave, the Early Spider also lives on Chalk, but it's so rare that it doesn't share the same general distribution as the Adonis/Musk/W.Helleborine.

Over to Felix...

Yes, I was counting helleborines as they are in the Orchidaceae. Felix is right with Musk Orchid. The other I was thinking of was White Heleborine, which although it's habitat is different, Chalk is the common demoninator between it and the Adonis Blue. AH PS, Felix, you are either lucky or very sha...

Thanks Felix!
Sorry that this Q. is not very clear cut but here you go: the distribution of the Adonis Blue is closest to which species of orchid? There are two answers which come to mind, so I'll consider either correct.

Before Felix gives us the answer, I'm going to have a guess and say Glanville Fritillary and the subspecific name was vectis. Worth a guess I'd say...
AH

Pete's right_ There are seven species:
Small Pearl-Bordered
Pearl-Bordered
High Brown
Dark Green
Heath
Marsh and
Silver-Washed

Your turn Pete

Which species of resident fritillary can be seen from (or at least very close to) Britain's longest National Trail?

Alexander

Red Admiral larva?

Alexander

Sorry folks I've only just read this thread, but the Green Hairstreak doesn't produce green pigment. It has a diffraction lattice which only has short range order. This is why it gives a uniform green and the colour doesn't change much over different angles in the way that many blue butterflies do. ...

To me the bottom larva looks like it might be the moth Depressaria daucella. They live in damp places usually around water-dropwort and weave the plant into a tunnel into which they can retract very fast.

http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=2075

AH

Yes it is black underneath. The pigment which causes this will be a melanin. I've just finished writing a report about iridescence/photonic structures in butterflies and will probably post a copy online soon if anyone wants to have a read. I'll be expanding it probably in July/August but it serves a...

I'd say just missing scales - it might have got caught on something.

Alexander

I'm fairly sure the moth is a Brown Silver-line. I've seen some myself recently too.
Alexander

http://www.ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=18

Sorry, yeah they do look a little different...the other photo is backlit so it's a little dark. I think they can be grey too, it might be an age thing, but I'm not sure.

Here's a clue - have a look at yesterday's post under the same name.

http://ukbutterflies.co.uk/phpBB2/viewt ... =14&t=2103
Alexander

Your theory about ants targeting mating males is a possibility, but I think the PBF I saw was female. You might be able to correct me on that front though. AH

hmmm, I think it could quite possibly be an attack; the ants seem incredibly keen to get to the butterflies and what's more the male goes mad when one eventually gets across. To me it seems that the male is trying to leave, but possibly there is an ant out of sight holding them there. I don't have a...

Hi folks, I had a superb (and educational) walk around Dunsford Wood yesterday. I've prepared a slideshow which I hope you'll find interesting. Just press "Next Photo>>" at the bottom of each photograph. There are 17 photos in total. http://www.flickr.com/photos/26481248@N04/2482975396/ Al...