78 years of butterflying

[Jack Harrison]

I, Jack, was born December 1938 Gorleston, Great Yarmouth on the coast of east Norfolk.

Mum caught a Peacock late summer 1945. That started things off.

1946 (aged seven) was my first full year. All was wonderfully new. I had no decent guide books – just a few illustrations in a Children’s Encyclopaedia - and when I caught a female Orange Team, I thought that without the orange, it was a 'freak'.

Memories fade but that year, 1946 I almost certainly came across:

Large Skipper:
Large White: Small White: Green-veined White: Bromstone
Red Admiral: Painted Lady: Small Tortoiseshell (and a few more Peacocks)
Meadow Brown: Hedge Brown (aka Gatekeeper)
Ringlet: (very worn when found late in season)
Wall Brown: Small Heath: Grayling (amazingly)
Common Blue: Holly Blue: Small Copper

1947 was blessed with a fine summer and I could consolidate on the previous year's findings. I had been given “Ford’s Butterflies” by an uncle and had won “South” as a school prize so had far better information.

New observations:

Brown Argus (yes, I knew that it wasn't female Common Blue)
Small Skipper (possibly seen the previous year)
Clouded Yellow
Silver-washed Fritillary in our garden.
Comma - yes, in east Norfolk in 1947.
Small Heath
Purple Hairstreak: Holly Blue Spring brood

At this age of eight, I began to appreciate habitats - not all species could be found everywhere.
Small Heaths in particular were restricted to one section of a country lane

1948 April - my one and only Large Tortoiseshell.

In 1950, dad got a car. Mum and dad loved north Norfolk (who doesn't?) and I duly found Green Hairstreak and Pearl-bordered Fritillaryry in Pretty Corner Woods, Sheringham. Catfield Fen in the Norfolk Broads gave me my first Swallowtail (which, I am embarrassed now to admit, I caught and pinned). The Suffolk Sandlings (Westleton, for example) were, in season, alive with Silver-studded Blues.

In June 1952 now aged 13, we had a holiday in north Somerset.

Butterfly firsts were Speckled Wood (widespread) Grizzled and Dingy Skippers near Cheddar. I picked a wood more-or-less at random and, as expected, Pearl Bordered Fritillaries.

1952 produced a great surprise - White Admiral in the Broads. I caught it, (very tatty) and let it fly around my bedroom to enjoy its graceful flight.

By this time I had grown out of collecting and began experimenting with photographing butterflies. This was before the days of single-lens reflexes, so I rigged up an L-shape wire frame at the correct distance and aimed that around the target. The close up lens came from a small telescope. I still have that telescope – now an antique, complete with all lenses!

Things slowed a bit during my teens, and I didn't really resume butterflying until posted to RAF Benson in the Chilterns in 1962. I soon found Marbled White and Silver-spotted Skipper.

Two years later, as a mere lad of 25, I had a weekend away with my girlfriend - in those days, you didn't tell parents about such things! I suggested that Lulworth Cove would be an interesting place to visit. Success with Lulworth Skipper.

Another memorable ‘first’ was, when in a gliding competition, I was unable to stay airborne so had to land near Ipswich. The disused airfield of Martlesham Heath had a surprise after I had got out of the cockpit – scores of Essex Skippers.

Over the years, I saw all the other British species (I didn't go to Ireland for the Cryptic Wood White) with the final ‘tick’ being Large Blue at Collard Down in the early 2000s. Except, that new regular migrant, Long-tailed Blue is not on my list, although I have seen in various locations abroad.

Now in the second half of my Ninth Decade with various parts like knees long after their "best before" dates, butterflying is history. But I have had a good run, numerous hobbies and a 40-year career as a professional pilot, firstly in the Air Force and later as an airline pilot. There was no better job, as two of my children are now appreciating. Miles and Polly both fly for easyJet.

Jack

[Padfield]

Hi Jack. It wasn't by any chance the Arthur Mee's Children's Encyclopaedia, was it ? I, too, learnt my butterflies from that when I was 7. I sat down one day and learnt them all off by heart (though I later recognised I knew some by the position on the page, rather than what they really looked like !).

Here's the first page of the butterfly plates, to send you down memory lane (unless you still have your copies, or learnt from a different encyclopaedia ...) :



And I don't believe that butterflying for you is now history. Not while you still have those orange tip pupae in your fridge ...

Guy

[Jack Harrison]

A few years ago, somebody on ukb kindly sent me the Children's Encyclopaedia butterfly plates. That was all I had as a 7-year-old. Still, they helped inspire me to find out more.

Ah, yes, those Orange Tip pupae in the fridge. My (somewhat younger) wife has strict instructions what to do if I'm not still around next spring.

Jack

[David M]

Love the retrospective, Jack.

It's like reading a living encyclopedia!

Good luck with the Orange Tips.

[bugboy]

Makes for fascinating reading, and in places somewhat bittersweet, picking a wood at random and finding PBF as expected . It was a Small Tortoiseshell and the Observer's guide that sparked my obsession back in the late 70's.

[millerd]

The Observer's Book and the Brooke Bond tea cards for me, after a close encounter with a bleary-eyed Brimstone one spring in the early 1960s. Like Jack, I managed a school prize once, though mine was the Collins Guide to the Butterflies of Britain and Europe.

Dave

[Jack Harrison]

Probably this wood where I found PBF all those years ago but maybe one of the others nearby.

Somebody might be able to check in 2024. The entire area, especially that disused quarry, looks very promising

Jack

[David M]

We had a small butterfly book when I was little, but I developed my interest merely through going out and searching for these insects, and that received a boost in 1976 when all of a sudden there was an explosion in the numbers of Peacocks, Red Admirals and Painted Ladies due to the unprecedented heatwave the UK had that year.

Soon after, I got this book which I still have today:

[millerd]

Probably this wood where I found PBF all those years ago but maybe one of the others nearby.

Somebody might be able to check in 2024. The entire area, especially that disused quarry, looks very promising

Jack

I spent the years 1967-73 just off your bit of map to the south in a village called Crowcombe. We used to spend sunny summer days on the beach at St Audries, and I had many a walk on the Quantocks round there. I don't remember PBF, but I found my first Green Hairstreaks somewhere not far away. I still have friends in the area so might be able to manage a look next year?

Cheers, Jack

Dave

[Roger Gibbons]

My earliest memory was of seeing a Speckled Wood in a garden in Bricket Wood and that image stayed with me ever since. We moved to Borehamwood in March 1953 (I was 6) from bombed out London, and it seemed like paradise with woods just 200 yards away (yards are like metres, but a bit smaller, this is going retro). White-letter Hairstreaks seemed quite common then. I have my junior school diary in which I wrote about Wall Brown.

The Speckled Wood was in the garden of an old friend of my father’s, who engendered my interest and gave me a moth collection which I spent many hours just gazing – photo attached. I still have it.

I also have the Children’s Encyclopaedia, all ten volumes, still in very good condition. I believe they show the right caterpillar for Pale Clouded Yellow.

One of my earliest butterfly books was the I-Spy book. 50 points for a Purple Emperor, yeah, in my dreams. Never did get to meet Big Chief I-Spy. Didn’t they have to drop the Indian chief logo…

Weren’t these published by the News Chronicle (a sensible newspaper, as I recall) and cost the princely sum of 1/- (that’s 5p for our younger viewers).

Roger

PS I didn’t realise Air Miles were named after Jack’s son.

[David M]

I presume that is you in that black and white image, Roger?

[Roger Gibbons]

I presume that is you in that black and white image, Roger?

Yes David, it is, a few days short of my tenth birthday. About that time, I also persuaded my father to take me to L. Hugh Newman's butterfly farm in Bexley, Kent.

I also have a copy of Butterflies Of The Wood (1953) by S. and E.M. Beaufoy, another early influence.

Roger

[David M]

Yes David, it is, a few days short of my tenth birthday...

Amazing. So, you yourself are in your 7th decade of butterflying? (mind you, I'm approaching my 6th!!)

[MikeOxon]

Like others, I enjoyed reading your retrospective Jack. In comparison, I was a late-comer, largely through photography, where butterflies presented an interesting challenge for obtaining attractive images. It was my son who really caught the 'bug' and encouraged me to photograph all the 'mainstream' British species. We had a great time planning trips around the country, to track down the more elusive species within their flight periods. I think it helped him to establish a successful career as a professional biologist.

Mike