www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

I just wondered about a photographic gallery of the above being added to the site? With species and location data where possible etc. I have a small number of shots that I could upload and I am sure others do to.

What do people think?

Regards
Matt

So long as we keep it simple

Just looking after the UK critters takes up a lot of time - especially in mid-Summer!

So - in terms of "simple" - I think the 2 things that visitors would want to see are:

1. The ability to see where a particular species can be found.

2. The ability to see what species can be found in a particular location - organised by country.

Would this be sufficient? I think including detailed flight time information, foodplant info, description etc. would be a little to much (for me anyway) since descriptions are still unavailable for many of the UK species!

Let me know what you think.

Cheers,

- Pete

I agree that a simple approach would be best and I can appreciate the extra hassle it'd cause otherwise. I reckon you got it spot on with your suggestions with basic species and location info. If anyone wants to know more they can do a spot of research or ask on the forum or directly to whoever posted an image.

It might be a useful aid when planning a trip / holiday, if theres a particularly impressive butterfly site people know of and want to share the information with other enthusiasts then this can be a place to do it.

I could definitely do with such information myself for when I go abroad.

One question I have is - what is the best source of information for determining the distribution of a given species, worldwide? I think this might be a rather difficult item to address.

All suggestions welcome. Especially those that will make my life easier if this goes ahead!

Cheers,

- Pete

I would suggest sticking to Europe? and perhaps another page for exotics? covering everything else worldwide and perhaps photos of captive species taken in butterfly houses?

Personally it would be a toss of a coin. There could be some good points (e.g.,adding breadth to the website) and some bad(e.g., contradiction in terms of web address) if you added foreign species.

There is so much that we don't know of our own native insects that there is no doubt a website of this calibre could continue to exist without the foreign input. However, for those who enjoy foreign holidays or who breed foreign species then it would be a blessing. Therefore on balance I would keep it overwhelmingly British but with an overseas page or link.
KR
Julian

Hi All,

I think it would be great to have a butterfly (species of the world) database, as there aren't any good ones to be found anywhere on the web.

Markku Savela's FUNet project at http://www.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/intro.html is pretty good if you want a worldwide database.

Cheers,

- Pete

Point taken about the focus of the site as UK Butterflies. Perhaps its best to drop the idea? I'll just concentrate on increasing my collection of photographs of our own species for the site.

Matt

I do a lot of trips to the tropics, and produce masses of butterfly photos, but I think it would be wrong to post articles or photos relating to foreign butterfly trips on a site which should be concentrating on UK butterflies ( including foreign migrants ).

However it would be a super idea if someone ( wish I could do it but I don't have the time to run it ) would start a quality website expressly for people to report their foreign butterfly trip lists and photos. This would be of enornous value to people who want to do foreign trips but don't know the sites or best flights times.

I'm sure that ukbutterflies would be very pleased to include a link to such a website......

Adrian Hoskins

Perhaps we could use a section of this forum for galleries. The advantage is that I don't have to pay for extra hosting space

Cheers,

- Pete

Yep I reckon it'd work to use the forum Peter. As others have said we shouldn't lose our focus on UK species for this site.

Country based pages would work best I guess.

The main thing that would be of use is knowing where to spot interesting species when going on holiday. If I am off to Greece for example during the school holidays, it would be nice to know where I can spot two tailed pasha or other species. I usually end up leaving my partner and daughter on the beach for a couple of hours whilst I aimlessly search for anything fluttering by. Armed with a Net (you have to have one for Europe!), my brown jacketed identification book (written by the bloke from France) and the Collins book it can be fun, but it would be great to know there was something special to be spotted when I was away.

Danny

Hye
Have a look to my site . About african butterflies ; African charaxes nymphalidae. Don't hesit to contact me. Exchange , sale dried insect ( cites respect) - data+photos (exchange).
Thanks - enjoy it.
Thierry.
http://lepidomania.perso.orange.fr

Please see my previous response to you. This isn't a marketplace.

Cheers,

- Pete