It is also worth noting however that the number of persons now actively looking for butterflies, and knowledgeable about them, is many times higher than in centuries past.
A lack of earlier records at Minsmere does not exclude the possibility of earlier records simply being missed or, equally, that the mid-nineties saw high numbers in the Netherlands, some of which ended up in the UK and maybe overwintered and bred.
I have to take you to task there Jos. There may be more 'recorders' but they're not often out looking for new habitats or trying to discover new things about these insects that were previously unknown. In the main all their knowledge comes from books written by the few that have done the hard work in the field.
Today a very high percentage of them are simply entomological twitchers, all they want is a tick in the box. Until Edward Newmans Illustrated Natural History of British Butterflies and Moths 1869 there wasn't a comprehensive book available to the early entomologists that was reasonably priced so that the average working man could afford it.
Stainton Manual of 1859 (2 vols) only has a few illustrations and wasn't much help.
The early collectors, and most of the early entomologists were collectors, couldn't hop on a bus or drive a car to wherever they wanted to go. Most either had to walk or ride a horse. The early railways eventually helped, but like many roads of the time they didn't go everywhere.
Todays 'entomologist' has access to hundreds of books pamphlets and papers written by experienced field entomologists and the life cycles, habitats and distribution are well covered. Yet so few will actually go out an look for new sites for themselves. I get scores of Emails a year asking where such and such a butterfly can be found, you even see requests on Bird Forum for information asking where the rarer insects can be found.
What the heck is wrong with these people getting off their backsides and going out and finding them for themselves? It's not that hard to do, and it's much more satisfying. There's no end of help available to these people. County lists of vascular plants and trees are readily available for most of the country, soil maps are also available, phase 1 vegatation maps are often available for reference from many County Halls, National Park HQ's. Geological maps are also easily obtained.
The insect textbooks will tell you the foodplants and nectar plants a certain species may need. Consulting local flora maps will show you often on a 2km sq, basis where these plants have been recorded, these can be supplimented by soil and geological maps. Many plants have a preference for certain soils and these are usually associated with particular rocks. There's so many pointers available to anyone who is prepared to work at it. Ideally this can be done in the winter when there is little field work to be done.
The old timers had none of these aids but they discovered so much, simply because they got off their backsides and went out looking. Many of them worked six days a week so perhaps only had one day in which to do field work. It was a very hard slog for many of them.
They were certainly far more active than todays naturalists. My own local Natural History Society is the oldest in the world being founded in 1829 they had an exceptionally large entomological following. Many towns and villages had their own Field Clubs and they organised trips into the countryside at week ends or public holidays. There are hundreds of accounts of such meetings in the old entomological literature. People are far lazier today.
A couple of years ago I was approached by a chap in his 30's who wanted to see Large Heath butterflies, as it happened I was going to visit a site the following day. We drove as far as we could, and when we got out of my van he said he couldn't see any, I told him the site was some 3 miles away over a heather moor, and we would have to walk as there was no alternative. He just wasn't interested, if he couldn't drive up to the site, that was it. I'm more than twice his age with my fair share of ailmants that we OAP's suffer from and I made it. He was still waiting by my van when I got back. I haven't taken him out since. It's not as if he wasn't fit, he played squash, but a six mile walk over heather moor and peat bog was too much like hard work just to see a butterfly or two.
Perhaps people of my generation were used to either to not having things because of war time austerity and we had to learn to do without or have to do things the hard way.
Todays youth, and many people into their 20's and 30's have been brought up to accept as natural all the modern aids available as a right, not even something that has to be worked for, or earned, and perhaps that runs over into their hobbies. Rant over.
RE QSF's I'm not at all convinced that these occurrences are natural.
Oh by the way. A belated Happy Birthday.
Harry
