Site of the Week
Captain’s European Butterfly Guide
The Butterfly Guide is one man’s mission to bring the world of butterflies to the world as a whole - if you love Lepidopterans, or just want to find out what they are, this is one website that shouldn’t be missed.
The menu seems to be neverendlingly clickable, expanding to give detailed information on many different areas - you’ll find everything from butterfly biology to lessons in photography. Starting at the beginning, the life-cycle section gives an interesting pictorial account of butterfly development, from egg to caterpillar to fully-fledged adult. There’s another section about butterfly predators, which illustrates the lengths to which butterflies go to avoid being caught.
The photos all through the site were taken by the author, and the Photography section sheds some light on the subject. Here you’ll find photo tips and examples of how some of the pictures in the website were altered on a computer to show the butterflies more clearly.
Use the clickable map of Europe in the Regions section to zoom in on the UK and find out which of our 55 or so native butterfly species are found in your neighbourhood. You can also zoom out to some areas of Europe, but not all of these sections have fully emerged from their chrysalis, and there are regions where the information isn’t complete.
A particularly useful section is the calendar, which automatically checks the date and lets you know which species are likely to be around for you to see. January isn’t butterfly season in the UK, but why not brush-up on your identification skills in time for Spring?
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