www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Intresting about beer... Sorry I "want" not need. thats right. If you want to know what a species is and you can't find out any other way, then you would "want" to catch it. You don't need to. Sorry again.

Hi all,

I have enjoyed reading the responses so far.

I must admit, however educational the responses are, they have not altered my thoughts one bit. I shall explain.

I am naturally of the predisposition of fearing any harm to any creature, tiny or large, on my part. So, I assume I would never have brought myself to use a net unless I was working in a professional/conservation capacity.

I brought up this question in the first place as a result of my conflicting minds on wanting to identify all species I could on a foreign trip against any possible harm to a butterfly in terms of losing a few scales or damaging an antenna as well as against the trade off between maximising the 'ticks' I gained on a foreign trip for the carbon footprint I produced.

Another interesting insight. The other day, I called over some other butterfly enthusiasts to a very worn Large Blue at Collard Hill. I discussed this with a family member on the spot. My thoughts were that I was thankful it was a worn specimen not a fresher one being pursued by the butterfly enthusiasts. The worn specimen had "done it's job" and would probably die that night whereas a fresher specimen may have been hampered in some manner from finding a mate or playing it's part in the local ecology.

Having such thoughts surely answers my own question on the netting issue?


Regards,
Andrew.

That's a good point Andrew. I always suspected that Collard Hill was created as an open access site to satisfy the curiosity of enthusiasts so that other sites are more-fully protected from over-eager butterfly watchers wanting to see such a rarity!

Fortunately, the population at Collard Hill seems to survive the scrutiny it receives!

Cheers,

- Pete

Your right Andrew. I don't like to think I harm any small or large creature either. That would be bad. Like to see them alive and well. I don't net butterflies anyway, but unless they need help or moved from a dangerous place as I already said.