DISCOVER BUTTERFLIES IN BRITAIN
is a guide to the best places to see all
58 different butterfly species flying in the wild.
This is the author's website.
The book's ISBN is 1903657121 and you can get a copy from any bookshop or direct from Butterfly Conservation or WildGuides (see below).
 
 
The 2008 butterfly season is now well under way. The book tells you when and where to look.
SPECIMEN PAGES
AND THE FULL LIST OF CONTENTS
ARE GIVEN BELOW
I have really enjoyed your book and it is in constant use. Robin Page, farmer, conservationist and columnist
LAST YEAR HALF OF BRITAIN'S 58 BUTTERFLY SPECIES HAD BEEN SEEN ON THE WING BY St George's Day, 23 APRIL 2007!
 
See Butterfly Conservation's first sightings page at any time for the latest 2008 update.
Recommended by Chris Beardshaw of the Daily Mail in his article The butterfly effect, 16 June 2007
Large Blues can be seen each year at the National Trust's Collard Hill site, and numbers were good last year. Over 600 people saw them on the wing there in June 2007. During the flight season (they are now over for 2008), there is information on the NT's telephone helpline 01793 817732. A report on 2008 is awaited.
The perfect ... read as you look forward to ... spring and summer. Guardian, Christmas Books, 25.11.06
 

Discover Butterflies in Britain ...... is very helpful.The Times, 25.11.06

Here are some other reviews.

 
In 2007, the Warden of Wheatfen reported the earliest ever Swallowtail sighting at Wheatfen - 27 April - for a singleton. Two were seen together on 15 May, and the flag iris flowered about 2 weeks ahead of usual. However later sightings were not particularly good, with the long spells of overcast weather not helping. You do need the sun to be out to see Swallowtails on the wing. How will they fare in 2008?
 
 
Obtain a copy online from the charity  Butterfly Conservation (tel: 0870 774 4309) or by telephoning WILDGuides orderline 01628 529297 or from most bookshops. The publishers make a contribution to Butterfly Conservation for every book sold.
 
 

 

RECENT BUTTERFLY NEWS:

Brown Hairstreaks have been about since late July. I was delighted to see a fresh female sunning itself on a bramble leaf at Whitecross Green Wood on 29th July. I had been looking for males, which emerge earlier than females, and this was an unexpectedly early sighting. See the RECENT SIGHTINGS link (below).

 

 

The elusive and rare Black Hairstreaks were on the wing from about 10th June this year. They are now finished for 2008.

 
 
Speckled Woods are one of the few species that are gaining ground and they are spreading into gardens.  I saw them regularly in my garden in Cambridgeshire in 2007. They have already been reported in my area, but still not yet in my garden in 2008. This photo shows a pair from the spring brood, with the slightly smaller and darker male at the right.
 
 

 
AN UNUSUALLY LARGE NUMBER OF LARGE TORTOISESHELLS WERE SEEN IN 2007
There were sightings at numerous places, many in East Devon, near Sidmouth. Since Large Tortoiseshells have not been known to breed in the UK since the early 1950s, the explanation is not yet known. Keep a look out if you are in that part of the world.

 
LARGE TORTOISHELLS differ from Small Tortoiseshells by being 50% larger and having a yellow, rather than a white spot, in the top corner of their wings.
 
IS THE SMALL TORTOISESHELL ENDANGERED?
Small Tortoiseshells have been few and far between in recent years. There is a link below to readers' comments, where Bob Dunnett explains where they've gone.  
 

 
 
Holly Blues are busy and occur regularly in gardens. Look out for females laying on holly buds (in the spring) and on ivy buds later in the year.

 
BY 23 JULY 2008 ALL 58 BRITISH SPECIES HAD BEEN SEEN ON THE WING. THIS WAS ONE DAY EARLIER THAN IN 2007. THE LAST BUTTERFLY TO APPEAR WAS THE SILVER-SPOTTED SKIPPER.
 
DISCOVER BUTTERFLIES IN BRITAIN TELLS YOU WHERE TO LOOK FOR THEM.
 
 
THE FIRST SIX DON'T USUALLY
APPEAR UNTIL JULY
 
 
Silver-spotted Skipper
Brown Hairstreak
Chalkhill Blue
Silver-washed Fritillary
Scotch Argus
Gatekeeper
 
THOSE IN THE NEXT BLOCK SHOULD HAVE ALL APPEARED DURING JUNE
 
Small Skipper
Essex Skipper
Lulworth Skipper
Purple Hairstreak
White-letter Hairstreak
Black Hairstreak
Silver-studded Blue
Northern Brown Argus
Large Blue
White Admiral
Purple Emperor
Dark Green Fritillary
High Brown Fritillary
Mountain Ringlet
Marbled White
Grayling
 
Meadow Brown
Ringlet
Large Heath
 
 
 
FROM THIS ROW ONWARDS, BUTTERFLIES FIRST APPEARED IN MAY, AND SOME WILL SHORTLY BE OVER FOR THIS YEAR 
 
 
Large Skipper
 
Swallowtail
 
Wood White
Clouded Yellow
Small Copper
Small Blue
Brown Argus
Common Blue
Adonis Blue
Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary
Marsh Fritillary
Glanville Fritillary
Heath Fritillary
Wall
 
 
AND THOSE STARTING IN THIS ROW WILL HAVE BEEN FLYING IN APRIL AND FOR SOME IT WILL SOON BE TOO LATE TO SEE THEM THIS YEAR 
Chequered Skipper
Dingy Skipper
Grizzled Skipper
Brimstone
Large White
Small White
Green-veined White
Orange Tip
Green Hairstreak
Holly Blue
Duke of Burgundy
Red Admiral
Painted Lady
Small Tortoiseshell
Peacock
Comma
Pearl-bordered Fritillary
Speckled Wood
Small Heath
 
Now some information about the book:
 

 
 
DISCOVER BUTTERFLIES IN BRITAIN is a guide to where to see butterflies,
with descriptions, maps and photographs of 66 good sites.
 
Click on the images below for sample pages; use the back button to return for your next selection.
If the pages do not appear full screen, look for the expand button by moving your pointer over the bottom right of each picture.
 

 


The full list of contents is given here.
 
Many of the site descriptions are supported by poems by Tricia Newland.
 
Links to PUBLISHED REVIEWS and a form for readers to give their own comments on the book and may be found here.
 
Comments and suggestions already received from readers are summarised here.
 
How I wrote the book, RECENT SIGHTINGS and more photos are here.
 
UPDATES are given here.
 
A new project BUTTERFLIES IN EUROPE is described here.
It includes articles on Swallowtails in Provence (an article for BC's European Interest Group). This article asks why
continental Swallowtails have their curious hill-topping behaviour. Dr Torben B Larsen has recently emailed a very convincing
explanation, based on his personal observations of butterfly behaviour in West Africa. There is a link to Dr Larsen's explanation
in this section. Also there is article on the Gavarnie Blue, which is one of the rarest European butterflies, found only in the Gavarnie region of the Pyrenees.
And, finally, there is a request for help in identifying some difficult European species.
 
 
DISCOVER BUTTERFLIES IN BRITAIN may be obtained direct from WILDGuides, telephone orderline 01628 529297,
or from Butterfly Conservation, telephone orderline 0870 774 4309, or from most booksellers.
It is stocked by Heffers, Trinity Street, Cambridge and is available by mail order from
www.heffers.co.uk which connects with their parent company Blackwell Online.
DISCOVER BUTTERFLIES is also in the Times and Sunday Times Winter Books Catalogue 2006, telephone orderline 0870 160 8080,
and in the Guardian's Review of Christmas Books 2006, Guardian book service telephone number 0870 836 0875.
There is a review in the December 2006 issue of the BBC Wildlife magazine
and the book is sold through the magazine by the BBC Wildlife Shop.
 
 
A contribution will be made to Butterfly Conservation for every book sold.
 
 
More information on how to obtain the book is given here.
 
A companion book BRITAIN'S BUTTERFLIES is also published by WILDGuides (details from WILDGuides web site).
This is about identifying butterflies and their eggs, caterpillars and chrysalises, whereas DISCOVER BUTTERFLIES
IN BRITAIN is about where to find them while also visiting the best of the British countryside.