smooth background which isolates the butterfly, with huge amounts of artificial 'air-brushing' to enhance the 'sharp' from the 'blurred'. I think that in pretty much all cases the effect is a natural result of the lens/camera bring used correctly to achieve this rather than something that has been ...

Congratulations to the winners. Once again a very fine selection! I thought it was going to be between Neil, Nigel and Trev when I saw the final selection. I had a shot quite similar to Trev's I had originally planned to upload, but thought I'd steer clear and go for something different after I spot...

Well done everyone - some stunning shots. I have absolutely no reservations about the current judging method, which is scrupulously fair and works very well, but I wonder what would have happened if each entrant (all of whom, by definition, must be interested in both butterflies and photography) we...

I notice that the subject on the home page advert reads 2014 calendar not 2015!

I was also in saas fee on those dates! It is my favourite place in Switzerland and we have visited regularly over the past 10 years and gets better every year. So much diversity within walking distance of the village. July is also my favourite time as everything is shiny and new at that time if year!

I was in the southern part Corsica 2nd and 3rd weeks of September last year and two tailed pasha were the most common butterfly by far. Find a prickly pear or fig tree and you will find several but really you could see them often from the Car just driving around. Low areas near the coast were best a...

Looking forward to the live report! That's a male banded demoiselle. The beautiful demoiselle has totally blue wings with no clear bits. The females of both are more tricky to separate though!

I think the colour of the tail is the key for identification with these similar looking green ones with a blue tail for eyed hawk moth

Bit of a stab without a book to hand and having not seen one before, but could the unknowns be alcon blues?

Don't think I have ever seen more that ones or twos myself either

Nice dusky heath. A stunning little butterfly!!

They had to think hard about that one!

Why is it that with moths their names can range from something nice and simple like this to something totally unpronounceable!

I'll take a punt at female Small Pincertail for the dragonfly

Oh yes I suppose it is a bit chunky for Peacock. Didn't know you got Red Admirals that dark, but I am far from a caterpillar expert. Had my first red admirals this year on some 'introduced' stinging nettles in the garden and they were a range of browns and greens!

I can't think of anything other than Peacock for that caterpillar. Maybe a straggler you missed that was less advanced than the rest you had on it?

Hi Charles, Looks like the caterpillar of the peacock moth to me. One I'd love to see on the continent myself so quite envious! Looks like he mist be heading off to find somewhere to pupate.

Hi Mike, What part of Corsica are you visiting? I was in the south last September. Probably not helped by the time of year, but it wasn't great for butterflies as there weren't too many open areas. Two tailed pasha heaven though in september! Anywhere within a few miles of the coast we saw them regu...

Good to see you got the high browns. Will have to compare them to my Niobe/high brown frits to see if I can work out what I found in Switzerland! Waiting for the plane to take me away from this butterfly Paradise :( I think you will have an excellent time in the Pyrenees! I am already planning my ne...

I think they get the odd one or two in early years such as this one is. I have seen one quite small second brood butterfly I think in august, just once about 6-7 years ago. Oddly it was at a site where I rarely used to see more than one or two first brood butterflies. I would have expected second br...

You are right Roger, Christ’s Thorn (Paliurus spina-christi) is highly attractive as a nectar source. When I was in North Western Greece a few years ago, this tree was a magnet for Nettle Tree butterflies. On one tree, I remember counting a total of 47 of this species and all very active in the hea...