I have just come back from Cyprus (I was there from 28/03 until 08/04) and butterflies, were on the wings already. I managed to identify the following: - Eastern Festoon (3) - Paphos blues (loads) - Cyprus Grayling (3) - Long tailed blue (1) - Cyprus Meadow Brown (5) - Swallowtail (1) - African gras...

Hi, We spent Xmas 2006 in Gran Canaria and we saw several Indian Red Admirals and 1 Monarch in a week. We were staying in the mountains at about 700m, this may explain why we did not see many butterflies around. In May, there will be a lot more butterflies around. Let us know what you saw once you'v...

Hi Felix,

I totally agree with you. Conservation is definitively better than re-introduction!!
Sylvie

Ok it is not January anymore but I spotted a brimstone (first one of the year) on Saturday (09/02) in the Gower Peninsula...
That really cheered me up!! I like seeing Brimstones as they remind me that spring is on its way!!
Sylvie

Another good way of saving the rainforest:

http://www.worldlandtrust.org/

Sylvie

It's not a great time for butterflies at the moment (although yesterday I saw a peacock still in beautiful condition despite the horrible weather we've been having in Wales recently) but it may be time to think about our gardens for next year. I am not a very keen gardener and tend to leave things t...

Hi Dave and Roger, Thank you for the information. Dave, do you know if I can fit any tube with my Sigma 300mm f/4.? I still haven't gone digital and I am using a canon EOS body camera film. Also do you loose a lot of light with those? Is there any distortion also? Sorry I don't have much knowledge i...

Thank you very much, that is very kind! I normally park the car somewhere and go walking all day looking for butterflies and any other sorts of crawling and flying animals. I will probably not be able to carry a heavy book with me and would not dare to leave it in the car!! This may be useful for id...

Thank you for your links. These will be very useful !!
Sylvie

I am travelling to Cyprus at the beginning of April 2008 and will be staying in the Akamas peninsula but will probably have some days in the troodos mountains as well. Cyprus being an island, I don't expect to see as many species as anywhere else but if anybody had some recommendations on good sites...

Hi Guy, I have seen Cardinal butterflies also in the South of France but only on one particular site where they seem to be quite numerous. It is very difficult sometimes to identify butterflies and if you don't have the time to take a picture or see the underside then identification is not possible ...

I forgot to mention that black veined whites abound in the Alpes Martimes.
You can see them on Plateau de Caussols ( behind the village of Gourdon again between Grasse and Nice). They are everywhere in the Alps !!
This part of France is definitively worth going to for butterflies!!
Sylvie

Hi, I have lived in the south of France for 3 years (Alpes Maritimes in Grasse) and I have photographed camberwell beauties at Lac St Cassien (not far from Grasse direction Draguignan), a beautiful site for birdwatching also (little bittern, spotted shanks, egrets, kingfishers, night herons, subalpi...

Roger, I have been on your website and I find your photographs really amazing and superb!! Can I ask you which lens you use (I guess a macro lens!!)? I have a 300mm telephoto lens which is brilliant for big butterflies but not so good for smaller butterflies (like the blues). I really like the way t...

Ok guy and guys, you have convinced me! I have learned something today which is great!! I have checked also my pictures this morning after reading your posts and the pictures I took were indeed of female silver washed!
Sylvie

This is actually a female silver washed fritillary and not a cardinal.
When I lived in the South of France, I photographed these females along with males, they are definitively females silver washed. Nice picture !!
Sylvie