About Me

I hope it is clear from the contents of this website that I am an amateur with a very keen interest in the European butterflies. After 2 years temporarily resident on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland I have now taken the plunge and moved here permanently. It is a truly wonderful place to live for anyone with an interest in wildlife. The Alps have an immense variety of butterflies owing to the extremes of habitat that can be found on just a single mountain from an altitude of 500m upto well over 2000m. And the wonderful Mediterranean areas of south eastern France are accessible by a good (but expensive) motorway network for a long weekend.

Immense thanks goes to those people who willingly (?!) support my butterfly obsession and to those who share enthusiasm for this common interest. Very special thanks to Gwen - Cheers!

It all began in Hampshire, England, during a summer holiday in the famous Alice Holt woodlands. I was immensely pleased to be able to find most of the butterflies in my child’s identification and log book during our stay. Of particular importance was witnessing Purple Emperors flying around my head in a hide deep within the forest. This spectacular insect is enough to get anyone hooked! [My very first records were of a moth in 1978 and a butterfly in 1979 - copies of these records are shown below, for my nostalgia rather than any scientific benefit!]

So at the age of 10 my interest had been sparked. While at home over the following 8 years I spent many many hours at the moth trap in the garden and surrounding woods, fens and meadows of Huntingdonshire identifying macro moths and a good proportion of the UK's micro moths too. Some great family holidays were had in various parts of France and Spain which started a passion for European butterflies simmering in the back ground.

Then university and work happened and a more normal social life replaced Friday and Saturday nights spent in dark forest glades looking at moths. This made mothing rather less appealing. This is when my interest in European butterflies took off. Plus with a little money of my own I could travel a little more. Eventually I bought a video camera which, after 4 years, prompted me to start a website for 2 reasons:

so I could see my own photos easily
so others could share my enjoyment and experiences.

Perhaps the greatest part of this hobby is the travelling experience. I love going to new areas and getting away from the tourist trail. Small hotels, special restaurants, different people and cultures add immensely to the wonderful countryside and nature that can be found in many "forgotten" parts of Europe. In Europe I include Africa north of the Sahara which is faunistically part of the western Palaearctic. Culturally it is very much removed from Europe which adds massively to the experience yet it is just as easy to travel to as Greece, Portugal or Finland.

Sadly there is so much human pressure on wild places that butterflies are in decline almost everywhere. Even in “advanced” countries such as France and Italy destruction of habitats is continuing relentlessly. More needy countries such as Morocco etc., former Eastern-Block countries and even places like Greece and Spain show very little attention to nature preservation. Hopefully one day hap-hazard and uncontrolled development and utilisation of countryside “because it is cheap and of no use to anyone” will be tamed and areas of great natural value protected and their true value recognised.

My first ever entomological record is of a moth, I was 7 years and 1 month old! A promising start.

My second record is a butterfly, the Orange Tip, 9 months later in 1979. My note "in Air" indicates I was a keen observer of butterflies even then!

And the first rare butterfly I identified, confidently, at the tender age of 8. The "Muther" (mother/ female) Purple Emperor "by strem" (stream) in the garden. My parents must have worried about my spelling, and depressed further by an entry on another page indicating a record from "Hampcheear" (that's Hampshire). My Purple Emperors were later confirmed by father (we found a good number in the surrounding woods when he joined us for our second week in the house) and the chance meeting of someone releasing bred Purple Emperors at the entrance to the wood across the road.