With regards to the livestock seller mentioned above, and many similar ones, this makes understanding population distributions and trends extremely difficult to interpret, especially for species such as Large Tortoisehell, Marsh Fritillary (a European protected species), Black-veined White and Duke ...

It was a huge pleasure to see Chalkhills flying in large numbers on Rodborough Common on 26th July, where Large blues had been in good numbers three weeks before. I always associate this butterfly with Carline thistles so was delighted to get this photo.
David

A great pleasure to meet you on Daneway this summer, it was very hot that day! I'm a long-term follower and admirer of your 'mission', long may it continue.

Best wishes

David

Hi Phil, Many thanks for your reply. Ultimately, I think we will have to ‘agree to disagree’ on some of these issues. I certainly don’t see it as my role to try and change your, or anyone else’s, core beliefs but I am happy to answer questions about the Large blue project. With that in mind, you sta...

Hi Phil, You raise some interesting points which I will endeavour to address. The Large blue project has been underpinned by science from the very beginning and whilst the results are generally well received, I’m always happy to answer questions. I've put your points in italics However these butterf...

Evidence that re-introducing a coppice regime can produce excellent conditions for PBFs.

There are not many dogs who will sit and watch whilst 100 pieces of trifle sponge are laid across a site to survey for ants and not try to eat them! She is a very well trained dog and asset to the team - it was 6th birthday yesterday. Thanks for your kind words Pete, feelings reciprocated, and unsti...

A 'composite' photo I'm afraid. 17th June 2021 - Jeremy Thomas, Sarah Meredith and I visited a recent re-introduction site to carry out some surveys. There were a lot of Large blues flying - at one point I could see 5 different mating pairs. A great tribute to the hard work of many people and a very...

This is something that we have noticed on Daneway over the last ten years and have often wondered (unsuccessfully to date!), how to scientifically measure this to compare with other sites. I have attached a photo I took on Daneway this year on 22nd June which shows similar colouration, although not ...

Hi Solomon, It was a great pleasure to meet you and your friend on a National Trust site in the Cotswolds and I'm delighted that you were able to both see and photograph Large blues. Your photos are lovely and I very much enjoyed our discussions. I remember laughing with you, that I was exactly your...

Together with many other species, the Large blue began to emerge considerably later than normal. As already mentioned here visitors should be able to see the butterfly at Green Down, Collard Hill, Daneway and The Bowl (Rodborough Common) over the coming weeks. Sadly the National Trust has been heavi...

And here he is.

Rowland Brown was a keen collector of Large blues in the Cotswolds.

Great thread!

And a photo that looks rather like a Common blue! I'm afraid these mistakes are usually down to the Photo Editor rather than the author of the article.

Years of collaborative work by many people, from several statutory and conservation organisations, culminated in this special moment. Rodborough Common 6th June 2020.

"If you want to change the rules of photography best of luck with that"

I'm not sure that Picasso, Renoir, Mondrian, Michelangelo, van Gogh or the unknown artists of Aboriginal Australasia or Lascaux paid much attention to the rules!
Just a thought...

At a time when division is seemingly ubiquitous, and when seeking commonality is becoming unfashionable, we should rejoice in the fact that we wouldn't be reading this unless we liked looking at, and learning about butterflies. Well done Pete Eeles!

Paradigms, we are all looking at this, as we do with all things, from different perspectives - there is no right or wrong. Personally, I look at butterfly photos from the point of view as an ecologist and conservationist, what can I learn from the photo about; the habitat, the age of the butterflies...

Without wanting to offend to anyone, they remind me of museum specimens with no data - clinical but uninformative.

I can understand that assumption Sij, however, anyone who has tried to rear large numbers of any butterfly species will know how easy it is to get a bacterial or viral infection which can wipe out the whole lot, and they are all herbivores. Imagine the potential for infection when dealing with carni...

This is a very good point. In captivity, Large blue caterpillars will eat the grubs of any Myrmica species. In the wild, any Myrmica species other than sabuleti will recognise the caterpillar as an imposter and kill it very quickly.

Happy to try and answer any questions.