This is the first year I can recall where long tailed blue larvae and pupa were freely available over the Internet. Undoubtedly this will muddy the water where reported sightings are concerned and all will be treated with a degree of caution. However, those earlier sightings along the South Coast ar...

The altitude was 1400 to 1450 metres, open land scape with few trees and large areas of flowering meadow. There were meadow and heath fritillary present but this butterfly differed in both it's darkness and uniformity of markings. My first thought was Nickerel's or false heath fritillary.

Can anyone identity this fritillary? The photograph was taken in the Cevennes, southern France.

How many people are aware of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, schedule 5, section 9? This covers the disturbance and destruction of endangered butterflies. This is worth consideration before visiting reserves, SSSIs etc.

The references to Marsh Fritillary are interesting, but biodiversity within this species in southern England has been compromised over many years. The late Peter Cribb kept captive stock for over twenty five years and bred thousands of healthy specimens for release purposes in various countries in t...

Who decides on whether a butterfly release is "unauthorised". An excellent question with no simple answer. I suspect authorised releases are those that are sanctioned by Butterfly Conservation, for example large blue and checkered skipper. At a local county BC level these would include sma...

Over the last few years I've photographed a number of "unofficial" butterflies in the UK; large tortoiseshells, scarce tortoiseshells, camberwell beauties and black veined white. I'm absolutely certain that none of these were stray migrants and arrived in the UK by natural means. All these...

Black veined white, possibly one of Europe's most elegant butterflies.

Large Blue laying eggs on marjoram at Daneway Banks