Saw a Hummingbird Hawk-moth today (20th March at 11:30am) in my back garden at Par, Cornwall. Briefly visited a narcissus for nectar & then took off at 500 mph!!!!!! This surely is very early for this moth isn't it?? A welcome sighting though!
Cheers all,
Lee Slaughter.

Hi all, What a day to have off from work!! Beautiful sunny & warm day with 90% sun here at Par, Cornwall. Temperature 18oc 64of. Visited Pontsmill Woods a couple of miles away at 12:00 noon & saw Roger Lane (Cornwall Butterfly migration officer) & had 20+ sightings of Brimstones which w...

Hi all, A family relative's child's Christening today loomed to spoil the potential for a brilliant sunny day for searching for the first Brimstone sighting for the year for me. Bugger I thought!! Anyway, upon walking down to St Petrocs Church in Bodmin Town centre (Cornwall) (SX074670) for the Chri...

I'm going to join in the moan because I tried to Join BC last year just before Christmas at their special 50% off offer. I clicked the email link only to find that it was a normal link nothing about joining. I dutifully asked the question, how do I join? No reply whatsoever. I eventually tried down...

I shouldn't hold out much hope for finding 2nd brood SPBFs in Hants though, they seem pretty few and far between. You'll need to go a little further West for second brood PBF and SPBF, which are a regular occurrence in parts of the West Country. I heard the other day some body giving a pretty convi...

Hi all, A very nice afternoon walk to Pontsmill, Par, mid-Cornwall with my wife Lisa & young sons, Robert & Michael (aged 6 & 4) produced 2 x fresh Clouded Yellows which given their sedentry habit in the same field flying round & round are probably home bred in that very field (priv...

First article done - and nothing to do with biology! But re-reading Ford gave me an inventive to update his first chapter :) The result is here: http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/reports_history.php All comments welcome - I still need to re-read it myself! It did take quite a while to correlate the in...

I think the brown larvae are moths. This happened to me when I was younger too! They may probably be the Cabbage Moth ( Mamestra brassicae ). They are very common on Cabbages in the summer. The larvae grow up to 45-50mm & the body can be various shades of green or brown with a dark edged thin pa...

Excellent Pete! This is a very underrated subject that many people including myself would benefit from learning. Your first mentioned book 'Butterflies - E.B.Ford - 1945 - Collins New Naturalist no:1' is a brilliant book which I unfortunately never read all of as the genetics/biology & other com...

Finally, I drove on to Lulworth Cove in search of Lulworth Skippers. Despite the weather being better near the coast, the wind was still strong. Not a sign of Lulworth Skippers, but few more Chalkhill Blues. I too was at Lulworth Cove today, alongside Sami. We gave the hills over three hours withou...

Saw several at Durlston Country park yesterday. Not that many, but conditions not fair. Go on a sunny day. Good advice...now, where did I put all that sunny weather.... :wink: I'm working through until next Thursday, hopefully the current rainy deluge will have passed by then. Hopefully. From the c...

Nowt wrong with your photos........I'm quite envious actually as we don't get any of those 3 species here in Cornwall! I did come back from the Isle of Wight a week ago from our familt holiday & saw many Chalkhill Blues & a few newly emerged Adonis Blues on the Isle of White's chalk downland...

Definately a lovely Female Lulworth Skipper named after it's discovery at Lulworth Cove in Dorset by Mr J.C.Dale on 15th August 1832. J C Dale was an entomologist of high repute and lived at Glanvilles Wootton in North Dorset. The spot where the first specimen was captured on that date was at Durdle...

That's a great success for BC & those who work hard at introductions & reintroductions!! Not an easy species for introductions are Pearl-Bordered Frits. Good work!
Lee (Cornwall).

The second photo is the Gatekeeper ab: "multiocellata". It is not too rare here in Cornwall with maybe 3 or 4 seen most years if you get out a few times & look for Gatekeepers at least! I don't think it is as frequent in other parts of the UK though!
Cheers,
Lee (Cornwall).

Hi Lee, Believe me I'd love to and it's something that I have long considered. It would be a kind of 'field guide' essentailly (but probably more 'coffee table' in size); not a lot of text but an awful lot of plates figuring an awful lot of aberrations, photopraphs of wild specimens where possible ...

Dear Cotswold Cockney, Great idea for a breeding experiment! I hope you are successful given your skills from years ago! I consider this 'Hands On' entomology & I applaud your honest & upfront statement confirming your intentions. Best wishes & good luck. Dear Felix, You should write a b...

Goodness, 160+ in one country! That Boloria napaea is an amazing colour. Is that a normal female or the equivalent of valesina ? I plan to get my 50th UK tick for the year tomorrow – Silver Spotted Skipper at Aston Rowant. It'll be the first half century since 1976! Jack Well done assuming you get ...

Are you sure it's not ab. ' caeca or ab. obsoleta ? Fascinating how Felix reels off these full aberration names! Me, armed with my 1938 copy of 'A Monograph of the British Aberrations of the Chalk-Hill Blue Butterfly' can only compare Lee's photo with the plates & then take an educated guess but...

Let me make a couple of points. On my point about Large Coppers. They are pretty much unique in having been in captivity for decades. Therefore as I said they will be likely to have evolved some degree of domestication. It may not be obvious but it will have occurred. The other point about introduc...