As some areas seem to have unusual forms turning up more frequently... :?: Really? Aberrations (in all species, although this relates to the chalkhill blue) are far less frequntly found than in past decades, simply because populations are so much smaller. In addition, many of the great colonies whi...

I'm not aware of any better on-line reference. Of course, there are much more-detailed references such as Bright and Leeds' monograph of Chalkhill Blue aberrations, and the unpublished work of Goodson and Read Bright & Leeds is notorious for it's inaccuracies. H.A. Leeds almost appeared to just...

I shall be in the area on 'other business' over the next few days, does anyone know if the beast is still on the wing on Dartmoor?

Thanks in advance.

Piers.

What Gibster said. Your shots are very interesting indeed. Keep it up, Pooh.

Piers.

Hi Lawts, have a look on the species pages here, there are some photographs of obliterae and other stuff.

Piers.

Much work has been done in this field PJU, and of course continues to be. An example of a practical application is pheremones acting as the base for many species-specific traps for crop-pests in an attempt to find methods of control that do not have adverse effects upon the local environment.

Piers.

Jolly good find Dave, it's 'blind'.

Piers.

Lee is right, this often happens with orchids, and the butterfly is left unable to roll the proboscis back up..!

Piers.

Lovely gatekeeper, Nick.

I watched this on i-Player last night, and became really frustrated with the dumbed-down style of presentation. Why does every article in this magazine programme have to be split into five or six bits, with each subsequent bit reiterating the content of the previous one (or two, or three...) and lo...

So how would you suggest people help, Julian?

Volunteer work etc. for those who live in the district or within a reasonable commute, but is there anything that the rest of us can do to help the SSB in Suffolk? or more accurately perhaps, to help secure the future of the land and the habitat.

Piers.

I think you've done really well to get those photographs in Welsh woodlands. That's a great photographic record, Bill.

Piers.

Lee Hurrell wrote:Who is that handsome chap hanging around at the back?

He looks like a shifty geezer to me, likely to half inch one of those push bikes as soon as look at 'em...

Thanks for the update Dave, glad to hear that they are still doing ok in the Derby Dales.

Piers.
Ps: good luck with the MOT..!

Julian, Many thanks for the detailed, if somewhat depressing, response. It would be terrible if Suffolk were to lose it's particular geographical cline of species from the Sandlings. I know that an awful lot of effort is being put into conserving these populations. Piers. Ps: thanks to you also Nich...

Interesting (but disappointing for you), thanks Celery.

Dave C,

Are the dark green frits out in the Derbyshire Dales yet?

Piers.

I read that species of butterfly, whose pupae and larvae are generalist mimics of a range of ants (rather than just one species of ant) are less successful than the specialists in deceiving the ants they co-habit with....but because they use a wider range of host ant, they are less restricted than ...

So what is so different that all the other butterflies I mentioned did not make it through the drought, but these did :? Could it be, Nick, that the types of grasses favoured by these smaller skippers (yorkshire fog, cock's foot, false broom, tor, etc.) are more drought tolerant than the types of f...

So what is so different that all the other butterflies I mentioned did not make it through the drought, but these did :? Could it be, Nick, that the types of grasses favoured by these smaller skippers (yorkshire fog, cock's foot, false broom, tor, etc.) are more drought tolerant than the types of f...