News Items

Congratulations to Dave Miller, overall winner in the 2022 UK Butterflies Annual Photography Competition! With an incredible shot of a pair of Brimstones, Dave wins a copy of Discovering Scotland's Butterflies by Paul Kirkland. Thanks to all the competitors - click here to see all of the winning entries.

From the publisher: This book develops and extends the author's views about the evolution and defensive aspects of mimicry in butterflies and moths set out in Seeing Butterflies; focusing on some of the most incredible insect mimicry that exists in tropical forests throughout the world. It reveals what no museum collection can tell us about the evolution of mimicry that has produced creatures that can be mistaken by predators for dead leaves, toxic beetles, scorpions, venomous snakes, lizards, frogs, bats, or insect-eating birds. Click here to read the review by Hugh D. Loxdale.

From the publisher: This book chronicles the life of the Reverend Arthur Miles Moss, a little-known genius who explored the Amazon, collecting and breeding butterflies and moths in period from 1903 to 1947 - a period during which little about the Amazon and its natural history became known to the world. Following in the wake of great Victorian naturalists such as Wallace and Bates, Moss' story has been neglected: apart from his publications in scientific journals he left a collection of 25,000 insects, unpublished manuscripts on Amazonian natural history, and some incredibly beautiful water-colours of bizarre-looking caterpillars now archived in the Natural History Museum in South Kensington. Click here to read the review by Geoff Bateman.

The UK Butterflies 2022 Photography Competition is now open for entries! In keeping with the online nature of the UK Butterflies website, the competition itself will be conducted entirely over the web. The competition closes on November 30th and the winning photos will be announced in early December. Click here for information on how to enter.

From the publisher: Scotland is an exciting place for butterfly-watching. The rapidly changing distribution of many species creates an enthralling environment for recorders and nature-lovers, while remote glens and islands undoubtedly hold undiscovered rarities. Discovering Scotland's Butterflies is for everyone who gets a buzz from seeing a butterfly, providing details of life cycles, habitats, ecology and distribution of the thirty plus species. Numerous anecdotes illustrate the pleasure to be gained from watching common butterflies or the thrill of discovering scarce ones. Click here to read the review.

From the publisher: Kent has 42 of the 59 butterfly species that are resident in Britain, including rare species such as Heath Fritillary and Duke of Burgundy, both increasing in numbers due to conservation efforts. This book illustrates all the species that occur in the area, plus others that used to be here. Maps show the current distribution and compare historical data where the range has changed. Also, detailed information is provided on places to see these beautiful butterflies. Click here to read the review.

From the publisher: A photographic identification guide to 150 species of garden insect most commonly found in Britain and North-West Europe. Packed with information, written with huge enthusiasm and illustrated with incredible close-up photos, this guide shines a spotlight on the insects in your garden. Click here to read the review.

If there is a single species that typifies the potential when it comes to reintroductions, then it is surely the Large Blue butterfly. This year has proven to be exceptional, not just in terms of bucking the downward trend seen in many of our butterflies, but the impact that this reintroduction and its site management is having to the benefit of other species. The once-extinct Large Blue butterfly, reintroduced to the UK in 1983, flew in its greatest numbers since records began on the largest number of sites in 2022. Read more here.

The UK Butterflies Outstanding Contribution Award for 2022 has been awarded to Ben Greenaway. Ben is known for the incredible field work he has undertaken regarding the lifecycle of the Purple Emperor butterfly, as well as his studies on parasitoids, especially those related to the Small Tortoiseshell, and the use of UV light in detection of immature stages.

From the publisher: Moths make up the majority of some 180,000 known species of Lepidoptera. Filled with striking images, The Lives of Moths looks at the remarkable world of these amazing and beautiful creatures. From the tiniest leaf miners to exotic hawk moths that are two hundred to three hundred times larger, these creatures are often crucial pollinators of flowers, including many that bloom at night or in twilight. The authors also explore such topics as evolution, life cycles, methods of communication, and links to humans. Click here to read the review.