The kids discovered what must be a Magpie moth on the bathroom ceiling today. I got all excited and grabbed the camera. Then in comes the hubby and announces flatly that it's been up there since yesterday evening :? I guess it's a very naïve question, but what's it been doing up there for so long? S...

Oh thank you!
It was gone the next time I looked, hopefully off to munch on the daisies

So I've been trying to rear some Painted Lady caterpillars as suggested by the kind people on my previous thread http://ukbutterflies.co.uk/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=9298 I've successfully weaned them off the junk food they came with onto thistle. This evening, while checking up on them, I foun...

Thank you Nick, after another fruitless expedition to the woods, I agree, I'll now buy a small batch of Painted Lady. We'll keep watch of the moth caterpillars, too, since they seem to be everywhere round here - in fact, there are a few in my own garden! I'm just a bit baffled by the absence of Smal...

The only down side to taking larva from the wild (assuming that you only take a few of those present) is the possibility that they may have already been parasitised & you end up hatching a wasp instead ... Yes I thought that, but then that could be a lesson for my son who's old enough to be lec...

Right, well, so far the search for Small Tortoiseshell has been fruitless :( either I'm pants at this, or I'm looking in the wrong places! Is it possible they haven't hatched yet in my neck of woods (West Hertfordshire) because of the cold spring? Or maybe I'm in one of those areas where there are f...

Just to add to Peter's post, Open Uni also have lots of free content on their OpenLearn portal. Most of it will probably be of general nature but it's worth a look. Some of it is popular science articles, some, overviews of research papers and some, course modules of varying level/difficulty.

Thanks David, I don't have any erysimum but will get some, thanks for the tip! The only purple thing in flower right now are wild violets but they are nearly done blooming. It'll take a few weeks before any imagos emerge in any of these species though? Especially in this weather - it's barely gone a...

Oh thanks so much guys, I'll try and look for larvae - I've got a few small nettle patches scattered around the garden, if no luck will try the local "wood" (it's tiny but plenty of nettles there). Shame I recently cleared some of my nettles without checking! It was literally a handful tho...

Hi, I'm very much of a newbie in all things lepidopteran so could you wise folk please guide me :D My little girl's birthday is coming up and I'm forever trying to reduce my consumer footprint, so... I've come across butterfly hatching kits sponsored by Buttefly Conservation like https://www.nhbs.co...