www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Thanks Maximus,
I have just linked a Speckled Wood video.
(the Speckled Wood Duelling video received 120 views on youtube and was removed by me from UK Butterflies & Youtube in April 2017 as I am now working on a video update that I think will be much better).

I have watched Pete Eeles' excellent Speckled Wood video and I think mine didn't compete but showed something slightly different,
Best Wishes.

All these moving images are making me yearn for spring!

Good effort once again, Phil.

Just seen your last video Phil it was great, I can't wait for next year, hope fully I'll get to see my first PE Goldie

Thanks David M & Goldie M,
There is hope. Only two years ago I would have thought that an Apatura iris was a plant growing in the margins of a fish pond !
19.10.2014
Surrey and SW London branch of Butterfly Conservation placed some trust in me by providing a link to my youtube channel on their home page. Apart from getting very excited my first reaction was to do some "pruning" of old videos and add a few comments under existing uploaded videos. I think I can do some more work improving the quality of some existing video footage, not wanting to be laughed at too much
best wishes,
Philip

Hill Farm Territory, Bookham Common
I have started compiling several images of individual Purple Emperor Butterflies from 2014 which can be identified by wing damage to try and get a better understanding of the rotation of individuals holding territory on a daily or weekly basis. My guess and analysis from observations is that there is quite a good rotation of individuals holding territory on a daily basis and just because one male has a territory in a particular tree one afternoon, does not necessarily mean that it will return to the same tree the following afternoon. The first butterfly I saw with wing damage was on 2nd July and there were still some fairly "clean looking" individuals around on 18th July.
The 6th July was noted as being quite windy in the canopy.
Here are a few pictures to give one an idea of what I have been doing but more help is needed to be sure:
For all those interested, here is my link to my Part One Purple Emperor video. Don't worry, this is not the "broken wings" version .
Here is possibly the final edited version of Part 1.
Part 2 and 3 are still subject to edits.
Please Enjoy :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_fIgSiZ7J4


best wishes,

Philip

Here are the links to Part 2 and Part 3 of my Purple Emperor videos:
http://youtu.be/H7GwFLi3d1g
http://youtu.be/exhazHZ1Ivw
I think these are now final updated versions and older versions will be removed from youtube shortly.
Here also is a link to all 3 videos combined into One which is over 10 minutes long and I only recommend viewing this with a fast broadband connection so that "streaming difficulties" are not encountered:
http://youtu.be/ixyb5Jkf9TQ

Thank you all very much for bearing with me through this process.

best wishes,

Philip

Hi! Phil, I will have to catch up with your video's shortly if there has good as the other ones they'll be great. I like to take my time and have some thing to look forward too so I'll let you know Goldie

Thanks Goldie M,
I am working on updating some of my video clips. Here is a Green Hairstreak clip. In fact, this was the first time I had ever seen a Green Hairstreak so I was delighted.
I know the video is a little "thin" on behaviour content but I fully intend to do better next year, also hoping to see the butterflies when they are a bit fresher. I have watched Pete's Green Hairstreak videos and have linked mine also. As there are not too many GH videos yet, I think I can just about justify adding it on basking behaviour and location content.
Please Enjoy.

http://youtu.be/2KhUIae8PHk

Hi! Phil, I've looked at all the Video's now and can't wait for next year
I've yet to see a PHS so if I could catch sight of both that would be a bonus
Your last video showed the PE in flight that was great, I didn't realize they were so big Goldie

Thanks Goldie M, I think the PEs are only second to the Swallowtail in size. I have never seen the English Swallowtail in the wild. I did research their flight times and where to look once when my parents were in Norfolk. They came back with very big smiles on their faces turning me

I was just uploading a large skipper image (cropped widescreen) to my personal album but before submitting it I had second thoughts so I clicked the reset button, then uploaded the same image (cropped 4X3) and ended up with two identical images (only cropped differently) on the home page
so I have removed the 4X3 image so not to prolong the but still can't find the widescreen image.
It was probably an obvious error with a simple solution so I am still trying to work out exactly what I did........

I have just checked, all is good now but I think I will leave the 4x3 skipper image upload again for later
The next thing I want to do is update my Silver Washed Fritillary video. I have lots of new footage, not much really interesting behaviour but I should be able to improve the quality of my video somewhat, cutting out some of the more "cheesy bits"
best wishes.

I have been having a look at some of my big digital zoom images. This White Admiral picture had a whopping digital zoom X4. As it was perched up in a tree, getting close was not an option and the digital zoom helped give me a large target area to focus on.
I do realise however that the best results are not achieved with digital zoom as any blurring is exaggerated.
This picture was taken on 13th June 2014 when the butterfly was probably on the wing for no more than a day or two. Some people did go looking for White Admirals at the Bookham Commons near the end of July and were surprised not to see very many and the ones they did see were quite worn & scruffy looking individuals.
In 2013 White Admirals did emerge several weeks later after a cold February and early Spring. Best Wishes,
Philip

HI Phil,
I only have a cheap camera,so I only use zoom in desperation,ie.a rare butterfly that is not likely to come close enough
for a normal shot. Invariably these shots are deleted because of poor quality.But this year i got one shot that worked,
I saw a Purple Emperor, some distance away, fly up from the ground to near the top of a tall Oak.Zoom was the only
answer, the Butterfly was hardly visible from the ground,the result is a hand held shot that didn't blur!!.
That shot is on page two of my diary.
All the best,
,
TREVOR

Hi! Phil I like the close up shot of the Admiral and how it shows the lovely creamy colouring of the butterfly Goldie

Thanks Trevor and Goldie M.
To be honest Trevor, I was helped a bit with a cheap tripod when taking this shot. When using a big zoom, it is nice to have a large target to focus on but if the target appears to be moving all over the place, exaggerated by wobble and hand shake, that doesn't help image quality. One can try using a faster shutter speed in such situations to get a better result.
My Canon PowerShot SX50 HS has 12.1 Mega Pixels. I think with this image, an optical zoom X50 was used plus a digital zoom X4 making the image 200x and just over 3 Mega Pixels (12.1 divided by 4, correct me if I am wrong). I don't think I cropped this image at all.
I am told not to enlarge pictures too much when using digital zoom. (I am not sure people really want to see the individual pixels, anyway , )
This is the same picture but I have reduced it in size by 25% to compensate for the big digital zoom.
Hopefully one should notice the difference when clicking on the picture to enlarge it.

best wishes,
Philip

PhilBWright wrote: I think with this image, an optical zoom X50 was used plus a digital zoom X4 making the image 200x and just over 3 Mega Pixels (12.1 divided by 4, correct me if I am wrong).

Hi Phil,

I would imagine that 4x zoom means 4x magnification of length (width and height) not area, so in fact it's 12.1 divided by 16 = 0.75 Megapixels. The image still looks perfectly usable at the size you've presented it here, but you're right that when enlarged the limitations are more visible.

Digital zoom is generally no better than taking an unzoomed image and cropping it later, but as you've explained, if it makes the target bigger in the viewfinder it can still be useful.

HI Phil,
Although we went to Alice Holt for HIM. the trip was made very worthwhile by the abundance of WA and
male SWF, we only saw one female all day.I have never seen so many of each species in one place.
I went to Bookham common a couple of years ago for HIM. but luck was not on my side,and not having a
mobile phone at the time I had fun trying to pay for parking at the tunnel car park.
All the best,
TREVOR

Thank you very much Dilettante. That comment might make me look a bit silly but your comment is valuable information for me that I haven't properly researched. I am going to try and be careful not to over use the digital zoom in the future (fun that it is ).
Thank you, Trevor.
The Tunnel Car Park at the Bookham Commons does happen to be close to the station so I guess that a decision was made a while ago by the National Trust to charge maybe to stop commuters parking there all day. I think the first time I went to Bookham, I ended up paying & parking in the station car park having similar problems to yourself. I might be wrong but I think the good old National Trust Sticker can also be displayed in the Tunnel Car Park instead of paying by phone on the spot. There is a free car park nearer the high points of the Commons but those supporting the National Trust understandably may not wish to direct newcomers there hence all the online info about the Tunnel Car Park.
I think it's all a bit of a "tongue in cheek smiley" ( ) but I don't want to make a fuss about it in case the National Trust start charging in the other car parks (one of which I frequently use).
I think I have shown this image before but will show it again as it also used a 4 X digital zoom as well as "maxing out" the optical zoom. I have this time reduced the image in size by 25% to prevent one checking on the number of pixels by physically counting them
best wishes,
Philip

I am currently sifting through lots of pictures and video clips of Silver Washed Fritillaries (SWFs) taken at Bookham Common this year in order to hopefully produce something that is visually informative regarding flight times and nectaring habits. Hopefully I will get some spare time at Christmas to finish this off.
My plan is to compliment my video with some recording data available from Butterfly Conservation, Surrey. I am not sure yet exactly how much work is involved. The process goes something like this:
Rename video clips and photos putting them in date order
Convert all video clips to MP4 format.
Split MP4 video clips into usable chunks using free software available online.
Compile video using editing software and insert edited photos.
Keep replaying the video, editing as necessary until I am reasonably sure all data included is correct and any "free" music added is properly credited
Post to youtube and then link to UK Butterflies if I feel it is appropriate to do so.

Here is a picture in which I got too close to crop widescreen, keeping all of the butterfly in the picture.
I have put a frame around it to try and give the feeling of more space (and for my own vanity ) kind regards,
Philip

Looking forward to the Silver Washed footage

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Wurzel.
I just ordered almost £50 worth of Christmas goodies from Butterfly Conservation.
http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/shop
some items are now out of stock.
(oh look, now I am back on the home page of UK Butterflies)