Monarch sighting!

[Pete Eeles]

From Andrew Spicer:

"Thought that I would let you know that my Mum (we used to live in Texas so she is very familar with insects of Texas) called me to let me know that she had seen a monarch butterfly on Wednesday, late afternoon in St. Ives, Cornwall. It wasn't just a fleeting glimpse, the butterfly came into their holiday cottage and she needed to get it back outside! The Canada-Mexico migration is probably just underway as I have personally seen large numbers of monarchs in the central Pennsylvania area from about the first week of September each year, with the bulk arriving in Texas by early October. As monarchs are rare migrants here in the UK, I imagine that this one got blown across the Atlantic from Canada/US border. My Mum was not observant enough to check if this individual was a male or female. I wish that she had held on to the specimen for formal confirmation, but I'm confident that she was able to identify the species."

Cheers,

- Pete

[Wurzel]

Allo Pete

I've been a birdwatcher for many years now and have been on one or two "twitches" to see unusual brids that have turned up where they shouldn't be. Twitchers are so named because the nervous anticipation of seeing or not seeing the bird manifests itself as ticks and twitches.

Is there a similar term for a leipidopterist that travels the country to see, photograph or tick-off a new species (for example the Monarch that was seen in Cornwall) - are they "flutterers" on a "flutter" ?

Cheers
Wurzel

[Jack Harrison]

Only just seen your post.

I use the same term “twicher” and “twitch”, eg the Camberwell Beauty twitch at Titchwell at the end of June.


Jack

[Zonda]

Twitching for lepidoptera,,, a Letcher comes to mind.

[Jack Harrison]

Zonda:

Twitching for lepidoptera,,, a Letcher comes to mind.

Ah, another idea for a domain name - letcherjack - to add to my weatherjack, snapperjack and buggerjack.

Jack

[Piers]

Only just seen your post.

I use the same term “twicher” and “twitch”, eg the Camberwell Beauty twitch at Titchwell at the end of June.


Jack

Jack, was this at the end of June 1938..???

Felix.

[Padfield]

I had exactly the same thought myself, Felix! Brilliant.

Guy