Butterflies of the World - Lifecycle, Ecology, Taxonomy, Conservation, Photography, Butterfly Holidays, Photo Galleries, Book Reviews and more.........
Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2007, and must not be published in part or in whole elsewhere without prior written permission from the author.
A Code of Practice
 
collecting | moth trapping | breeding | re-introductions
visitor pressure | staying local | eco-tourism

We all have our personal and often emotive views about butterfly collecting, breeding, introductions, site confidentiality, and other subjects related to our interest in butterflies. The learnaboutbutterflies philosophy presented below tries to avoid emotive issues and look at the subjects discussed from a more rational perspective :

Collecting

In tropical countries, collecting butterflies can aid conservation. It enables us to confirm the identity of species that cannot be identified in the field, and provides proof in the form of voucher specimens, that certain species exist at a particular sites. Proof of the existence of rarities or high biodiversity is essential if sites are to be protected as nature reserves.

Netting butterflies in the UK as part of a mark and recapture project helps conservationists to understand population dynamics. It is also educationally valid for a field meeting leader to capture butterflies temporarily to show attendees identification features. Such incidents are often what inspire people to take a deeper interest in butterflies and ultimately in their conservation.

There is however absolutely no justification whatsoever for killing any British, European or North American butterfly species. All can easily be identified ALIVE, and in most cases without netting, let alone killing them, simply by carrying one of the very many excellent field guides.

Fragmentation, degradation or destruction of habitats has caused most European butterflies to decline catastrophically in recent decades. Many species are now found only in low numbers, and at just a handful of sites. Killing or removing butterflies from such vulnerable populations is clearly selfish, unnecessary and extremely irresponsible.
 

Moth trapping

Moth trapping is scientifically valid. Moths are mainly nocturnal, so the only way to observe and record most of them is by sugaring or light trapping.

In Europe almost all moths can be identified alive. There is no valid excuse to kill them.

Trapping for identification, if carried out on a small scale probably does no long-term harm to populations. Unfortunately the subsequent release of the moths is often done in an irresponsible way - moths tipped into a patch of long grass at dawn will very quickly fall prey to birds.

Trapped moths should be kept cool to minimise activity and prevent dehydration. They should be returned to the original capture site the following night, and released after dark, when they at least have a chance of survival. If moth trapping enthusiasts are not prepared to go to these lengths they should refrain from trapping entirely.
 

Breeding in captivity

At first glance there seems little harm in capturing an occasional female butterfly for breeding. Rearing from eggs to adults encourages a deeper interest, and thereby increases the likelihood that the rearer will progress to take an interest in conservation.
However there are major conservation issues when it comes to disposing of surplus livestock.
The common practice of dumping surplus livestock is highly irresponsible - bred stock will be genetically weaker, will emerge out of sync with wild populations, will attract high numbers of parasitoids and avian predators to the release site, and may introduce disease.

Butterflies are best studied and appreciated alive and in their natural environment.

They can be studied through binoculars, video cameras, still cameras, painting, drawing, or simply by keeping notes on their behaviour. The pleasure of seeing a butterfly feeding at a flower, or observing it's courtship behaviour, is a million times more satisfying than looking at a butterfly in a cage, or a dead specimen in a display case.
 

Re-introductions

If wildlife habitats were contiguous, butterflies could naturally recolonise sites from which they had temporarily been lost. Unfortunately, habitats are severely fragmented, and most butterfly species are very sedentary in nature, so natural recolonisations are rare.

Because of this, conservation organisations sometimes capture females from strong and healthy populations, and transfer them to former sites so that artificial recolonisation can occur.
Increasing fragmentation of habitats and isolation of colonies means that re-introductions will become a vital conservation tool in the future.

Re-introductions MUST be carried out professionally with a full understanding of the effect on donor populations, and suitable long-term habitat management in place at the receiving site, which must be analysed in great detail to assess it's suitability.

Transects, mark and recapture programs, and continual monitoring of the larval foodplants and adult nectar sources must be in place, so that conservationists and managers can understand the reasons why any given re-introduction succeeds or fails.
 

Visiting butterfly sites

Many popular butterfly sites now suffer from intense visitor pressure, which causes disturbance to wildlife, damages fragile habitats, and diminishes the tranquillity of the countryside.

Landowners are generally pro-conservation, and welcome the public on their property, but are likely to be considerably less sympathetic if their land is subjected to large numbers of visitors.

If you want to visit the popular sites, try to spread the load by going mid-week if possible. Better still, visit the lesser known sites, which are often more rewarding. You often have the place to yourself, with just the birds and butterflies for company.

Photographers should be aware of the unwitting damage they can cause by trampling, disturbing nesting birds, or scaring nervous wildlife. Keep to existing paths wherever possible, and abide by requests to stay out of particular areas. Leaving paths encourages others to do the same thing, and can result in considerable damage to fragile foodplants and nectar sources.

Take advantage of encounters with landowners - be an ambassador for butterfly conservation. Encourage people you meet to take an interest in butterflies. Tell them about learnaboutbutterflies so they can find out more, in their own time.

Authors and webmasters should also be alert to the danger of publicising smaller and more fragile sites - Several such sites in southern England have been damaged by excessive visitor pressure as a result of over-enthusiastic publicity.

learnaboutbutterflies does NOT publicise sites of scarce or localised species, as doing so can encourage fragile sites to receive excessive visitor pressure. Instead we encourage people to explore the lesser known sites, particularly in their local area. About 90 percent of the British butterfly photographs on this website were taken within a 20 mile radius of the webmaster's home !
 

Staying local

Get to know your local habitats intimately. By concentrating on local sites, you are able to spend more time studying and photographing butterflies, less time travelling, and you save fuel.

It's a good idea to obtain 1:10,000 scale maps covering all the habitats within a radius of 20 miles of your home. Different habitat types such as deciduous woodland, coniferous woodland or grassland are clearly indicated, so the maps will enable you to detect many new habitats.

It is of course necessary for most of us to travel long distances to see localised species such as Black Hairstreaks, Swallowtails or Chequered Skippers, but local sites can reward you with many surprises -  A few years ago I regularly travelled 40 miles to a particular wood to see Silver-washed Fritillaries and White Admirals. Then, one year when I was unemployed for 2 months I was forced to limit myself to local sites that could be reached cheaply by public transport - and discovered thriving populations of both species in a previously unvisited woodland just 3 miles from my home. Another local wood was found to have Purple Emperors and several rare moths !
 
Eco-tourism
I like to spend my weekends exploring the local countryside. I get more pleasure from getting to know what is in my local wood, than from driving for hours on a motorway to see a Swallowtail in Norfolk.
However, despite my reluctance to travel long distances in the UK, I put myself through the ordeal of long-haul flights and great expense, to travel to the tropics as often as I can.
Why ? Because as a child I had seen set specimens of Morphos and Owl butterflies, and had always dreamt of being able to see them alive in a rainforest rather than pinned in a display case on the wall.
We only have one lifetime to fulfil our dreams. But, with holes in the ozone layer, mounting carbon emissions, and global warming threatening the planet, how can I justify the long-haul flights ?
Because eco-tourism is a powerful conservation tool. To illustrate this we only have to consider examples like the Danum Valley rainforest in Borneo, which only survives because of the demand by eco-tourists for it's retention, and the increased employment and wealth generated by eco-tourism. The same can be said of much of the Amazon, the cloudforests of the Andes, the game parks of East Africa, the tiger reserves of India, the orang-utan reserves of Kalimantan etc.
Without the income and employment generated by eco-tourism, such wonderful places would simply not exist any more. The precious little of the natural world which remains would be cultivated or urbanised out of existence.
"Eco-tourism makes the forest more valuable standing, than it is when cut down" - Marina Silva, Brazilian Environment Minister.
 
 
 
Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2007-2008, and must not be reproduced or published in part or in whole elsewhere in any form without written permission from Adrian Hoskins. Breach of copyright will be pursued by litigation.

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