A Butterfly Year

[Paul Wetton]

Hi folks

As many of you know I've been producing a DVD set of the butterflies I've been filming up and down the country this year.

They're now ready. Two DVD's with 2 hours and 30 minutes of footage of the 58 mainland British breeding species in broadcast quality digital format.

The films have been reviewed favourably by Pete who will be adding a full reviw to this site in due course.

For further information and to purchase a copy please follow this link: http://www.ibirdz.co.uk/A%20Butterfly%20Year.html

Many thanks

Paul

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Paul,
It looks excellent from the trailer. I'll certainly be buying the set for myself when I get back from holiday in December.
Neil

[Jack Harrison]

Looks superb from the trailer. Money already on its way Paul.

Will you be showing extracts and hopefully selling plenty of copies at next weekends BC Conference?

So what do you plan for an encore in 2011? Could be a difficult act to repeat. The Alps perhaps?

Jack

[Gibster]

Hi Paul,

the trailer looks superb, we're looking forward to watching the whole thing on a big screen! Just a tad galling seeing Clouded Yellow and Mountain Ringlet as we missed both this year. Many congratulations, we're proper impressed.

So what are your plans for next year? Something to trump the butterflies? Adults of all the British Nepticulids...

All the very best,

Seth and Sami.

[Paul Wetton]

Hi all

Jack's hit the nail on the head.

I'm planning to spend three weeks in the Swiss Alps so hopefully will obtain sufficient footage to prepare another two discs of even more butterflies.

After that there's Dragonflies & Damselflies not forgetting my Dad's specialist subject Hoverflies.

Cheers

Paul

[Michaeljf]

Hi Paul,
I'm looking forward to seeing my copy soon - I'm sure it'll be excellent. Well done for getting it put together so quickly as well. I'm sure I'll post a few comments to your site as soon as I've had a good viewing: my only hope is that there are a few landscape shots to go in there as well as the butterflies, just to show us some of the enviroments we've either not been to (Chequered Skipper in Scotland comes to mind) or the nice spots we only get to visit once a year (Hickling Broad etc come to mind). A DVD of the Swiss Alps sounds like a great idea, though I'm afraid I won't be queueing up for one on Hoverflies!
Michael

[Paul Wetton]

Hi Michael

There are some habitat shots smattered throughout the two DVD's including a little footage at Glasdrum Wood. I think you'll enjoy the shots of Irton Fell up in the lakes where I filmed the Mountain Ringlets.

The general consensus seems to be for butterflies in the alps rather than Hoverflies so I'll stick with the butterflies next year.

Need some more sales though or I won't be going anywhere next year.

Cheers

Paul

http://www.ibirdz.co.uk/A%20Butterfly%20Year.html

[Jack Harrison]

My DVDs arrived Tuesday. They were certainly extremely well packed (took several minutes to open)

I have now viewed Part 1. I must say that Paul has had the most amazing patience in getting some excellent footage. The Large Blue – a real devil to photograph in my experience – is superbly covered.

Paul's commentary is instructive, for example when explaining the differences between Brown Argus and female Common Blue. I really loved the Wood Whites after the rain. I hadn’t appreciated that there might be subtle differences between the broods.

Video shows butterflies as we see them, warts and all (and by that I mean, for example, blades of grass in the way). They are live unlike what may be called “voucher” shots by still photographers where every aspect has to be perfect. Video doesn’t replace still photography; but it complements it beautifully.

Very brief habitat shots were included but longer investigation of habitats would have been beneficial.

Some things I didn’t quite like. Mating behaviour is shown in great detail for many species (almost worthy of an 18 certificate). Until now, I was only really familiar with the mating behaviour of one species on this planet; I am now wiser.

Jack

[Paul Wetton]

Hi Jack

Glad to hear the package arrived safely. I thought it should be fine with all that tape.
It sounds like you are enjoying the footage in the most.
To be honest I could have added more habitat shots but I would have needed to put the footage on 3 discs as I almost completely filled the two I used. I didn't want to compress any footage and lose quality.
I haven't added up the hours of footage I have, but there is around 300 GB on two hard drives which is a fair bit to look through and select out the best bits to put on disc.

Not sure why you didn't like the mating behaviour as it shows a good comparison between males and females. The real reason I have a fair bit of this behaviour Jack, is because the butterflies are less flighty when occupied in this way and easier to film.

I hope you enjoy the second disc. Please let me know what you think when you've had a look.

All the best.

Paul

[Jack Harrison]

Just finished watching part 2.

Paul has incredible patience that has been amply rewarded in the videos. Having been butterflying for some 65 years I cannot really say that I am a novice. Yet Paul has shown butterfly behaviour that I have never before appreciated and to the best of my knowledge, has not previously been seen. His Purple Hairstreak shots have some amazing action when two males have a set-to ........well I won’t spoil it. You’ll need to see for yourselves.

I have learnt about subtle distinctions between the upperside markings of Dark Green and High Brown Fritillaries. Flight season and localities are well covered. Now to visit Paul’s website but I need a coffee first.

And I have to say, in part 2 there are fewer close-ups of mating pairs “displaying all”. I still don’t find butterfly genitalia very attractive; I know that I’m not alone in that view.

Jack

[Paul Wetton]

Hi again Jack

Glad to hear you found the second disc as interesting as the first.

For those of you who would like to have a look at what Jack is discussing please visit: http://www.ibirdz.co.uk/A%20Butterfly%20Year.html

Thanks for posting your thoughts Jack. Keep up the good work.

Cheers

Paul

[Michaeljf]

Hi Jack / Paul,

as Paul knows I recieved my copy on Monday, which was very fast delivery (I didn't expect the package that fast!). I've been very impressed so far and the highlights for me (I've seen the first disc and half way through the second disc) are the shots of the hairstreaks (the Black Hairstreak sequence, Green Hairstreak and White-Letter Hairstreak) are all fantastic. The sequences of the High-Brown Fritillaries are superb too, I certainly don't have a problem with the mating sequences, but I do see why it might take the DVD's from a 'suitable for all ages' to a 'slightly dubious for some ages' bracket!

I would have also liked to see more shots of the landscape, but I can understand this would 'up' the price or bring down the quality to fit the footage into 2 discs. The sequences of Scotland show how much a brief landscape view can add to the footage.

For me it was quite interesting seeing the footage of the Purple Emperors, as I was standing with Paul when he shot some of these sequences. What impressed me was the quality of the footage of the PE's amongst the foliage when they were a good 10 or 15 yards away.

It is also lovely to hear the birds and the other insects as the background sounds to the footage. I don't know how much of this was 'added' and how much was audio-taped directly at the time of the video-footage. In winter we forget how great the sounds of nature are and how much they add to being out in the good weather.

If I do have any criticism of the discs - they could do with a sub-menu to break the footage up. If you can't watch the DVD 'all at once' you don't have any scene-breaks to easily start the DVD from. Also, I would have preferred some more shots of the Swallowtails in the Broads as viewed in places like Hickling Broad when they are normally seen amongs the reeds and the Yellow-Flag Irises. But I do know how well Paul did to get footage of all the species in one year so these are very small 'gripes'.

Overall a really nice package. I think if I have a preference the 2nd disc would be my favourite because I do love our 'larger' summer species. Fermyn Wood, Arnside Knott, and Whitecross Green Wood have become my favourite places to visit, and I think they are all featured on the 2nd disc.

Pauls commetary comes across very well with lots of nice insights. I also liked the personal touches about getting attacked by midges, seeing Hairstreaks feed on fresh bird-dropping etc...it's these sort of comments that take the DVD's out of the purely 'impersonal' coverage and make the DVD's a better (and warmer) watching experience. If Paul does any more DVD's I would encourage him to go down the 'Halcyon Diaries' or 'Autumnwatch' route to show a bit of footage which has him speaking to the camera briefly 'in situ', but this may be only my own preference.

Well done Paul!

Michael

[Paul Wetton]

Hi Michael

Just one point regarding your comments. There is actually a full menu on both discs which will take you to any of the species, thus allowing people to use them as reference or as an identification guide. On the start up screen there is a picture and an arrow. If you were to move your DVD player curser to the picture you will see a ribbon effect appear. Click ok or enter or play on your DVD remote and you will be able to access three menu screens showing all of the species on the disc.

My fault for not making this menu obvious but I like to go for simple on screen designs uncluttered by writing. In this case I think a little bit of wordy clutter was required to show where the menu could be accessed. You can restart the second disc at the point you left it Michael.

Thanks for your review of the two discs and I'm glad you enjoyed watching them so far.

Anyone interested please check out the link below.

Cheers

Paul

http://www.ibirdz.co.uk/A%20Butterfly%20Year.html

[Michaeljf]

Oh thanks Paul. I've found the sub-menu's now. I also have just bought a new DVD player which probably didn't help!
Michael

[Jack Harrison]

Anyone want to buy a used copy? £10 only. (Just joking Paul)

Jack

[Paul Wetton]

Hey Jack

I'd hang on to it. When I become famous it could be worth a lot more than £10.

Cheers

Paul

http://www.ibirdz.co.uk/A%20Butterfly%20Year.html

[Paul Wetton]

Hi Michael

That was a good point you made about the menus. I'll be putting a slip into each case from now on explaining how to find the menu for the discs as follows:

To access the menu from the title page of each disc, please navigate left using your DVD remote or mouse and ribbon will show on butterfly picture. Press enter/ok or click mouse to reveal full menu of thumbnails for each species.

Cheers

Paul

http://www.ibirdz.co.uk/A%20Butterfly%20Year.html

[Paul Wetton]

If anyone has tried to buy a copy of my DVD in the last two days my website server is currently down as it has been under attack according to the website people.

Please try again at http://www.ibirdz.co.uk/A%20Butterfly%20Year.htmlin a day or so when it should be up and running.

Many thanks

Paul

[Jack Harrison]

That is a real bind Paul, especially in the run up to Christmas. Best of luck.

Jack

[Michaeljf]

That was a good point you made about the menus. I'll be putting a slip into each case from now on explaining how to find the menu for the discs

Paul,
I think that will help, as not everyone is great at finding menus (as I have shown!). Sometimes it's the little things that make a difference.

On a slightly different note, I'm always impressed by the BBC's nature photography as shown in programmes like Autumnwatch/Springwatch. I've just bought an LED High-Definition TV and I may replace my current camcorder to a good HD version in the new year. I'd love to see the Butterfly photography in HD though conversion to disc may mean upgrading the costs. Although a HD camcorder isn't the same as your posh set-up, it would be interesting to see the difference. Biggest problem I suppose is that the camcorders aren't designed to shoot micro-objects.

It's always interesting to see how small some of the camera or video equipment is that the BBC is using for some of their HD nature photography. I bet the costs are still pretty steep though.
Michael