www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com/

Happy New Year, Dave, and to all UK Butterfliers! Love the baubles!

Guy

'Hope' is definitely the key word, Jim.

All the best for 2022.

My Dream for 2022
I have a dream that one day the Large Copper will once again fly over the moors of Somerset, and why not ? https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com/

It'd be nice, Jim, although we'll never get the British subspecies back again, sadly.

David M wrote: ↑Fri Jan 07, 2022 4:53 pm It'd be nice, Jim, although we'll never get the British subspecies back again, sadly.

Never say never, with the advances in cloning I reckon there's a realistic chance of all those victorian collections being able to donate enough viable DNA for L. d. dispar to be flying over our fens at some point in the future, probably beyond our lifetime but perhaps within 100 years...assuming we haven't completely buggered up the planet by then!

Natural recolonisation in that time frame can't be completely out of the question - it's a pretty mobile species, occurs over much of France and seems to be gradually edging northwards there. There's suitable habitat around Calais as a jumping-off point, and Romney Marsh would suit it rather well I think.

bugboy wrote: ↑Fri Jan 07, 2022 5:40 pm...assuming we haven't completely buggered up the planet by then!

I think there's a semi-decent chance homo sapiens might be extinct by then, Paul.

I'm not really seeing any signs of encouragement over the short to medium term. Exploitation for our own ends has seemingly entered our genes.

I'm glad I won't be here in the latter half of this century.