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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Recent content by NeilJones

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    Help, Virginia USA

    The left hand side one is a skipper, probably of the genus Pyrgus which are known as checkered skippers in the US and Grizzled skippers over here in the UK. They are a very difficult group to identify in general. Someone from the US who is more familiar with US butterflies than I am may be able...
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    Swallowtail in Aberdeen

    Another factor to take into account is that we , as as been alluded to, are actually dealing with 3 subspecies . P. m. brittanicus our Norfolk insect. P. m. gorganus the French one which occasionally breeds in Kent and in the 19th century probably occured in other places in Southern Britain...
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    Camberwell Beautys in UK

    Several European languages have adopted the "Mourning Cloak" translation so I am not sure if Dutch was the original. (Welsh is another one with "Mantell Alar"). It is supposed to represent a petticoat showing under a dark dress. An old name for it in the UK was "White Petticoat" and another was...
  4. N

    Id on Bug on crysalis

    I would definately suggest send off some specimens to Dr Shaw. WE really need to know more about the parasitology of our butterflies. It is complicate sometimes there are hyperparasites and hyper-hyperparasites they go like russian Dolls. As Johnathan Swift wrote Fleas have little fleas that...
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    Butterfly Id

    That is correct it is a Hackberry Butterfly
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    Small Swedish butterfly for ID

    Hello Hello hello what have we got here :-) <groan> It is a Small Copper.
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    Status of Large Copper in the UK

    I have been hunting around for the book with the definitive information on one of the studies. I don't have the information on all the colonies. My figures are based on a published study of 56 introductions which was published some time ago and chatting to Dr Martin Warren ( now Chief Exec of...
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    Status of Large Copper in the UK

    I am concerned to hear anyone describing Marsh Fritillary introductions as "Highly Successful". The reality is that breeding it is childsplay ( I did it as a nine year old.) and that research has shown that introdutions do not work. There are over 80 known attempts and not one single long term...
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    Status of Large Copper in the UK

    The pictures certainly are Large Coppers. There are a large number of people breeding and rearing them. oin the distant past I have reared some as they are excellent photography subjects. It is a gorgeous butterfly the Dutch call them Groete Vuurvlinder. Great Fire butterflies. Thy are extinct...
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    Caterpillar ID please

    It was stated above the the cinnabar moth catterpillars only eat Ragwort. Actually the cinnabar moth caterpillars will feed on other members of the Senecio genus not just Ragwort, however the moth's population dynamics make it abolutely clear that it cannot survive without Common Ragwort as it...
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    Surreybirder's lep blog

    Ragwort is quite fond of overgrazed pastures. There has been a hysterical campaign against it but in reality the scientific evidence says that it is not really a big problem. There has been a claim that it kills thousands of animals a year but this was a publicity stunt using faked up...
  12. N

    Another for Id plz

    It is a Large Skipper. The brown dash acros the forewing indicates it is a male.
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    butterfly ID, not UK?

    Yes the law is the WIldlife and Countryside ACt 1981. It seems to me they may well have broken it. PArt 1 section 14(1) "Subject to the provisions of this Part, oif any person releases or allows to escape in the the wild any animal which - (a) is of a kind which is not ordinarily resident in...
  14. N

    Donana Trip

    Spanish Speckled Woods are a separate race. Or to be more exact there are two described subspecies and there is a bit of ingtegradation in between them. We have Pararge aegeria tircis they have P.a.aegeria. The Spanish ones have orangish spots where as ours are creamy.
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    Glanville Fritillary

    It is definately an introduced colony. It is a well known one. Research has shown that for most butterfly species introductions don;t work well at all. WE can be fairly sure because of the work done on Glanville Fritillary metapopulation dynamics by Prof Hanski's people in Finland. That this...
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