Hi all. I'm heartily sick of winter, and looking forward to seeing some butterflies some time soon, surely? Not seen a single one so far this year, just too cold, grey and miserable. But, we're heading off to Teneriffe in May, and am eagerly anticipating lots of interesting stuff. Any one here know ...

All these replies imply that the Comma made some sort of rational decision to have a white mark on it's hind wing, with a logical process of reasoning behind it. Surely, in fact, the mark- along with all the other features- are a result of a genetic mutation which just happened to confir some sort o...

I'm also struck by how similar the members of various butterfly families are, even on widely separated continents. The implication, I guess, is that the various butterfly families evolved before Pangea separated into all the different continents, and that their evolution has been fairly slow since. ...

I have been really enjoying this series, inspite of Mr Titchmarshes' slightly patronising manner. Did we all see the wonderful slo-mo of the Humming Bird Hawk in episode 1? Superb.

Thanks for the prompt reply, Pete.

Finally, in another thread somewhere ( forget where exactly) I mentioned that I'd spent ages trying to photograph Humming Bird Hawk moths, with very little success. These two are the best I have been able to manage. Taken in Jersey last summer. There must have been a couple of dozen of them zooming ...

Having found these pics, I also found some others I took on the same trip. Suffering Butterfly withdrawall symptoms, I thought I may as well post them, despite their not especially great quality. This, I think, is the Southern, more yellowy, form of the Speckled Wood? http://i52.photobucket.com/albu...

Looking (in awe-struck wonder!) at the stunning images in V6GTO's "Spain" thread sent me scurrying to find some pics I took in the South of France a couple of years ago. The Geranium Bronze pic he posted reminded me that I'd photographed the same species, but had no idea what it was!! I al...

Looks like butterfly catterpillars are kinda camera-shy!! Here's another moth! Photographed this splendidly furry fellow on Oct 29th last year at the Blackburn Meadows Nature Reserve here in Sheffield. Using my Olympus C750 UZ on macro:- http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g29/55bloke/29thBlackburnMea...

Ah yes, had a girlfriend in N. Allerton once...............

Highs: Moving from city-centre Leeds to the middle of nowhere in North Yorkshire and finding things like Wall Brown in my Garden Where exactly is Thrintoft? I lived in N Yorks for 20 odd years and don't know it!! Highs and lows for me this year were seeing Swallowtails on Crete (if that counts) and...

Mantis' must surely be THE ultimate insect predator!! Thank God they don't get any bigger- if you put PREYING MANTIS into the search box of Youtube, there's some truly jaw-dropping clips on there! A little gruesome perhaps, but there's footage of Mantis' eating things you'd neverbelieve possible! In...

Peacocks may be "common", but "plain"? Surely not!

55bloke wrote:You're clearly a man of taste!! What's the story with the pic?

Well, my 1st thought was that it must be photoshopped, but just thought I'd ask!!

You're clearly a man of taste!! What's the story with the pic?

The mantis holding the Berger's clouded yellow is a nymph of Empusa pennata - identified as nymph or adult by the projection ('crest') on the head, recalling something one might see on a dinosaur!! There is, of course, a human-sized praying mantis in episode 4 of Season 1 of Buffy the Vampire Slaye...

Dead right, thank goodness they're only inches long, not feet!! Think the beast that has the Clouded Yellow is a Mantis, but not une I've seen before.

....which raises the question - if you saw a butterfly fly into a web, would you try to rescue it or let nature take its course? Surely, you have to let nature take it's course? Otherwise, you're condemning the spider to starvation. Ditto dragonflies and mantises. Come to that, would you try to dra...

Ditto!! Hawkmoths are awesome creatures, and those pics make me green with envy! Spent HOURS trying to get a decent shot of Hummimbird Hawks on Crete in the summer, and on Jersey last year, but got nothing anywhere near as good as those.

Thanks, always good to have your pics approved of by a fellow enthusiast.