ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, SOURCES and LINKS

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

There are many wildlife photographers' sites, which can be found via a web search.   The gallery sections of other photographers’ sites sometimes make me want to give up, but a good look from time to time generates ideas.   The following sites have been particularly valuable to me.

UK Butterfliess is the definitive website for butterflies, run by Peter Eeles and colleagues, for identification of and background information on butterflies on the UK list. The photo galleries are fantastic, with all stages of the life cycle of all UK species illustrated beautifully. There is also information on UK sites at which to see the rarer species.

UK Moths is the definitive website, run by Ian Kimber, for identification of and background information on moths on the UK list.

Ophrys Photography is the website of John Devries. It covers birds, butterflies, mammals and orchids.   The quality of pictures is fantastic and there is a wealth of useful and authoritative advice.   John runs a one-day workshop for a very modest fee and I recommend this without reservation.   I was at the point where I could see problems and John provided solutions.

Lot Moths and Butterflies is the website of Robin Howard.   It has an excellent range of pictures of lepidoptera from south west France and Robin has been kind enough to help me with moth identification.

Leptiforum is a German site with a compendious selection of pictures of European lepidoptera.   It is in German, but the organisation makes it easy to work with even if you do not have that language. The page Bestimmungshilfe takes you to images of moths and butterflies grouped by families and in most cases each species is represented by a range of pictures showing variation.

Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa is an Italian site with text in English and another compendious set of images.

BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION

Everyone knows about the RSPB and they have over 1 million members.   Fewer people know about Butterfly Conservation.   Indeed their choice of title does not imply a society that is open to members.   Nevertheless they are and I encourage all who are interested in butterflies and moths to join.   The membership fee is reasonable, the magazine has an excellent approach, making the subject accessible without 'dumbing down' (RSPB please note) and it is not stuffed with adverts for clothes that you wouldn't want to be buried in (RSPB please note).   The local members groups are active, inclusive and focussed and the society does great work for the preservation of lepidoptera.   Very few of our moths and butterflies are migrants, so the populations do not suffer the vagaries of migration and wintering grounds outside our control.   For the most part the declines in moth and butterfly populations in the UK are explained by habitat destruction.   Hence, these declines could be controlled and the mission of Butterfly Conservation is to limit these declines and, in a controlled and sensible way, to try to reverse them in key areas.   Please join up!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Alan Cole of Pixelwave Web Design for recommending that I consult W3Schools to learn HTML and CSS.   The design of my website was based on a template by dcarter design.