Hi Roger
The names Steve... But I'll let you off!!
Anyway... Sure, I have attached below all of my messages to the chap
concerned. As I have already posted on UK Leps Yahoo group, It really does
worry me that the recording effort of BC and its volunteers can be effected
by unregulated releases of butterfly species, often into unsuitable areas or
into existing areas where species occur but without any concern to local
genetic differences... E.g. what happens if I release Brown Argus into areas
of Northern Brown Argus in say Scotland. They may not breed... Not sure if
anyone has tried to find out, but if they could produce viable offspring,
what could the result be... The end of the Northern Brown Argus as we know
it maybe??
BC uses stats to work out patterns in species distribution... Effects of
global warming etc but these stats cannot be relied upon if they are being
influenced by records of migrants or rare species truning up all over the
place. It also makes a mockery of conservation efforts from the general
publics point of view when they can just say... Oh.. Well if a species has
been lost from a site, just pop onto the internet and order some more!!!
It also worries me that protected species can be bred from 'captive bred'
livestock and just released anywhere. Morally, this really cannot be right.
Anyway.. Here's the exchanges I had with the chap below. I have had no
response to my last email to him but this really does not surprise me. The
messages below are completely unedited except I have removed his name. I do
not wish to target this guy on his own... At the end of the day, he's just
pushing the limit of the law had as such has done nothing wrong. It's the
practice in general which I disagree about and it should be stopped. I had
posted a similar issue on UK Leps about Marsh Fritillary sales to the
general public earlier this year. I'm awaiting the outcome of that from BC.
Recently contacted Les Hill for an update.
Feel free to post the following correspondence below on UK Butterflies with
any comment you may have. Would love to hear what you think.
Best wishes
Steven Cheshire
http://www.britishbutterflies.co.uk
MY FIRST MESSAGE- - - - - - - - - - -
Dear Nigel
I have to say I'm very disapointed to see a company still trading in the
release of butterflies for events such as weddings for purely financial
gain.
Butterfly Conservation and its volunteers spend a great deal of time and
research effort trying to establish species trends and environmental factors
on our native butterflies yet you are releaseing the all over the place
along with species such as Monarch!!
For someone who appears to love butterflies, I'm amazed at your attitude
I could say so much more but no doubt you ahve had planty of other letters
regarding this and no doubt don't bother to read or take notice of them...
if you did, you would not be doing what you do.
Steven Cheshire
http://www.britishbutterflies.co.uk
HIS RESPONSE- - - - - - - - - - -
First of all it's Mr. #### to you. Only my friends call me ####.
Secondly, you obviously havn't got a clue about breeding British
Butterflies and I can tell that your knowledge of Butterflies is very
limited from what you have written. The Butterflies I send out for weddings
are mainly migrants and species which are found all over England and will
only help boost stocks in certain areas where they have become more scarce.
God help us and our Butterflies if people like you are put in charge!! It's
no wonder that our Butterflies are in such decline!!. Along with so many
other things.
Thanks to so called Butterfly Conservation we have lost so much and gained
so little. I'm sure they mean well, but due to stupidity and ignorance they
do more harm than good. A fine example is the British Large Blue that
became extinct thanks to Butterfly Conservation. Another example is where so
called volunteers decided to dig up all the Sallow trees causing the
extinction of three moths in a local reserve. I could go on, but I have
better things to do with my time than try and explain to the likes of you.
Also, please do not write to me again, as not only are you rude, you talk a
lot of gibberish and your English is so bad that it's hard to make any sense
of what you are saying.
########
MY SECOND MESSAGE - I'VE HAD NO RESPONSE- - - - - - - - - - -
Dear Mr ####
My sincere apologies but I cannot see which bit of my email was rude. I did
not realise that pointing out a few glaring facts makes a letter rude. I
apologise if I managed to upset you in any way.
I guess you have not read my web site
http://www.britishbutterflies.co.uk, I have a
lifelong interest in Butterflies, their habitats and life-cycle and plenty
of experience in breeding butterflies sensibly.
I know about the Large Blue... are you telling me its Butterfly
Conservation's fault that its also declining across Europe?
Was Butterfly Conservation responsible for the extinction of the Large
Copper... Black-veined White, Mazarine Blue etc etc? The Large Blue became
extinct due to changes in land use (farming and grazing practices) which
effected the Red Ant (Myrmica sabuleti) which the Large Blue depends upon
during its larval and pupal stage. This knowledge was not fully known until
Jeremy Thomas finally understood the importance of Myrmica sabuleti back in
the early 1970's. Sadly... the Large Blue was extinct by the time the full
scientific facts were known and could be used to conserve the species... but
you knew that already didn't you?
Also, the argument about random releases boosting stocks of species in areas
of decline, do not take into consideration genetic variation and regional
variation in species which may have developed over thousands of years,
especially in less mobile species. Just releasing 'captive bread stock' into
these areas can cause a great deal of damage to these regional variations
and the genetic diversity of a species.
Your arguments are exactly the reason why the law needs to be changed in the
UK to stop people like you profiting from the sale of rare, endangered and
migrant species at weddings etc. Its quite sad that you feel that this is a
legitimate way to make money... I can't believe people are sad enough to buy
butterflies from you to release at a wedding... but that's due to a lack of
education, ignorance and more money than common sense by some members of the
general public. I do not think they do it because they feel they are helping
butterfly conservation. But that's exactly the argument you are using.
Strange... but then you are doing it for the money so I could not expect
anything else really!
Yours Sincerely
Steven Cheshire
