Mountain Marsh Runners aka Broad-billed Sandpipers have started passing through South East Norway the last couple of days. There are only a handful of sites with annual records of this scarce species and one of them is Årnestangen. So, I set off on the long walk with high hopes this morning. My hopes gradually became […]
Tag: butterfly
Noar Hill National Nature Reserve, Selbourne
After a breeding bird survey near to Havant I headed to Noar Hill National Nature Reserve to see if I could connect with Duke of Burgundy. This 20 hectare reserve was was formerly a medieval chalk working is owned and managed by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust (HIWWT). The reserve consists of a […]
Plummeting insect numbers ‘threaten collapse of nature’
The world’s insects are hurtling down the path to extinction, threatening a “catastrophic collapse of nature’s ecosystems”, according to the first global scientific review. More than 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered, the analysis found. The rate of extinction is eight times faster than that of mammals, birds and reptiles. […]
Butterfly Dream
“Once upon a time, I dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was myself. Soon I awakened, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then […]
Small copper butterfly in ‘inexorable decline
A tiny but unmistakably dazzling butterfly, the small copper, suffered its worst ever year last summer according to the annual scientific survey of Britain’s butterflies. The bright ginger butterfly joins a growing band of once-common butterflies in apparently inexorable decline despite no discernible habitat loss in recent years and conservationists are warning that climate change […]
A Butterfly Break
Tired of grey February skies? Here’s a nice butterfly from warmer and brighter times last year. It’s an American Lady, Vanessa virginiensis. Its upper side is black and orange with white spots and a touch of purple in some of the spots on the hind wing.
The Orange tip butterfly
Anthocharis cardamines – Males differ from females by the orange-tip on the fore-wings, hence their vernacular name. Their host plant is the Cuckoo flower, but adult butterflies feed on other crucifer flowers. It is I think one of the prettiest pieridae! Le plus joli des piéridés à mon avis! Si les ailes antérieures se distinguent […]
Scientists discover single gene that enables multiple morphs in a butterfly
Scientists have discovered the gene enabling multiple female morphs that give the Common Mormon butterfly its very tongue-in-cheek name. doublesex, the gene that controls gender in insects, is also a mimicry supergene that determines diverse wing patterns in this butterfly, according to a recent study published in Nature. The study also shows that the supergene […]