www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Rosy Rustic wrote in reply to Nick:

I'll beat you with a bacon bagette

Now we know that you're into that sort of thing Nick, why not change your user name to Max Mosley?

Jack

Danny asked:

I'm curious about Jack being forced to leave that mailing list...what happened Jack? Were you not scientific enough?

I tried to send a private reply but Pete contacted me to say that private messages were still causing problems with the ISP.

I can't really go into details here about my Red Card but it resulted from the use of a turn of phrase directed at the moderator that was rather reminiscent of that famously used by a former England rugby captain.

http://www.saidwhat.co.uk/quotes/sport/will_carling

but I was referring to just one, not 57.

Jack

its Eccles who won't let a single photographic topic go by, without bagging on about his bl@@dy Sony.

Canon users are so far up their own arses that they can't see the light from the competition.

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon ... ndex.shtml

eccles wrote:

its Eccles who won't let a single photographic topic go by, without bagging on about his bl@@dy Sony.

Canon users are so far up their own arses that they can't see the light from the competition.

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon ... ndex.shtml

You do make me laugh Mike. Am I included as a Canon user?

Denise

Canon, Nikon, Sony...eh, stuff cameras... I'll grab my net, and find the nearest marsh fritillaries or Large Blues, bring back the glory days of the collecting, so what if a few go species extinct, I'll have my fun.

Dave wrote:

I'll grab my net....

I was chatting to some people yesterday at Holme while trying to photograph Graylings and commented how much easier things were 60 years ago when people collected with a net rather than with a camera.

Jack

You do make me laugh Mike. Am I included as a Canon user?

That all depends. You've already sold one Canon lens, so there's hope for you yet...

Dave McCormick wrote:Canon, Nikon, Sony...eh, stuff cameras... I'll grab my net, and find the nearest marsh fritillaries or Large Blues, bring back the glory days of the collecting, so what if a few go species extinct, I'll have my fun.

You will also have a large collection of extinct butterflies - surely that must make the pinned specimens more financially valuable? It's a win win situation (apart from the point of view of the butterfly, of course )

Rosy Rustic wrote:

Dave McCormick wrote:Canon, Nikon, Sony...eh, stuff cameras... I'll grab my net, and find the nearest marsh fritillaries or Large Blues, bring back the glory days of the collecting, so what if a few go species extinct, I'll have my fun.

You will also have a large collection of extinct butterflies - surely that must make the pinned specimens more financially valuable? It's a win win situation (apart from the point of view of the butterfly, of course )

Yeah - then we can all sell our photos to the Guardian whilst it's readers wring their hands and say "how terrible" it all is!
Of course, it is not new, but how about our own "Extinction Club" - the person who bags the last one gets a plaque on the wall with a photo of the "final act" next to it - should keep the photographers amongst us happy too!

Let's just go for it!
N

I guess we could even let Canon users join too.....but no Sony Alpha users, please......!!!

but no Sony Alpha users, please......!!!

No problem. I wouldn't dream of joining such a miserable bunch of wretches.

We do not need to join your stinking club!
We are the Canonista.
A secret society - we are recognisable by our smug grins.
We have secret signs we use to let each other know that a Nikonian is in the room - fingers and thumb held in a loose, horizontal circle, and moved vigorously up and down. This represents them squeezing more money out of their pockets for the over priced equipment they are locked into.
Users of P&S cameras are pointed out with the finger and thumb held about an inch apart - this to represent the diminutive size of their sensor.
The misguided owners of Olympus cameras we point out by letting our hand fall limply from the wrist, as it is a well known fact that all Olympus users are gay.
We have no special secret sign for a Sony user as there are so few people that have actually fallen for the Image Stabilisation con-trick that they are an insignificant grouping.
All other cameras are indicated by clutching our rib-cage and miming manic laughter.

Roger
Grand Poobah of the Canonista
(Our chant - "all worship the cream lens and the red line")

p.s. You can tel the weather is dreadful can't you!

letting our hand fall limply from the wrist

Ah yes, that'll be because of RSI from lugging your tripod around on account of not having an image stabilised body. BTW, have you learned to play that 100-400 trombone yet?

I trust the people on this list actually do know how difficult it really would be to collect a species to extinction. The one thing that has made it possible is the almost total destruction of some species' habitats.

Rogerdodge wrote:

fingers and thumb held in a loose, horizontal circle, and moved vigorously up and down.

Calling someone a "w*nker" is actually flattering; it implies that he knows how to look after his health. See this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3072021.stm

Jack

JKT wrote:I trust the people on this list actually do know how difficult it really would be to collect a species to extinction.

Aha! A challenge.

JKT wrote:I trust the people on this list actually do know how difficult it really would be to collect a species to extinction. The one thing that has made it possible is the almost total destruction of some species' habitats.

Well said!!

Felix.

JKT wrote:I trust the people on this list actually do know how difficult it really would be to collect a species to extinction. The one thing that has made it possible is the almost total destruction of some species' habitats.

Indeed! Most of our feeble attempts to "save" a species rely on intensive management practices to provide suitable habitat which has vanished as argicultural and horticultural practices change or land is built on or reclaimed for farming; ultimately we will end-up with a few open "zoos" where you can go to see butterflies.
Collectively, extinction club membership extends to all the human race, not just those that catch the last specimen. We are all guilty ....

but at least we could enjoy it
N

Depends what you mean by 'guilty'. In Anglo Saxon times most of England and much of Scotland and Wales were forest, so many of our meadow butterflies would have had a really tough time of it. It was only the clearing of these forests for pasture that opened up the countryside allowing these species to flourish. We increased biodiversity largely by accident, and in the latter half of last century we decreased it, again, largely by accident. Monoculture arable farming and wholesale use of pesticides destroy ecosystems, whether they are natural or arificial, but make no mistake, for centuries, our green and pleasant land has not been 'natural', or anything like it. Anything we do to change a habitat to support wildlife will hopefully create a more desireable one, but in doing so we will inevitably destroy the previous one.
Clear a meadow of scrub to allow ground based rare plants and insects to flourish and a potential environment for dog violets and the fritillaries that feed on them are lost. Allow sheep to graze a hillside and vetches grow encouraging blue butterflies. But the shorter grass won't support small and essex skippers which prefer uncut grasses. The list is endless, and the knock on effects of land management, even those with good intentions, can be unforseen and catastrophic.

But this is drifting from the original topic, except to say that with good intentions, people do silly things, like buy a Canon camera when they could have had a Sony.

Eccles has a point, unlike the IS in his camera, which is of course pointless.
Take for instance one of my local sites Danedury hill, its your typical Iron age hill fort, defencive ditches and all that.
For about two and a half thousand years this site was a treeless hill that had never seen a plough, so one can assume that butterflies did prosper here. But then in the Victorian era, some Numpty decides the hill would look a lot better with trees on it, so they plant a Beach wood and goodbye butterflies. Now however most of those beech trees are dieing off and the site owners are very keen to remove them, great say I, more chalk downland, but I will miss the Bird's-nest Orchids.

Gruditch

....so they plant a Beach wood....

Presumably next to the sea.

Jack