The UK Butterflies Team

Peter Eeles

I've always been interested in nature, and butterflies in particular - fostered by a childhood spent in rural Gloucestershire. This interest was put on the back-burner as I focused on studies at college and, later, my family. This interest was then re-awoken in 2001 when a work colleague (hi Mitchell!) showed me his web photo album full of amazing butterfly images. Within a week I'd bought my first digital camera - a small compact that had a whopping 2 megapixels resolution (my mobile phone has a higher resolution these days!).

I was immediately hooked and, in 2002, created the UK Butterflies website in order to simply show my album of photos on the web. I then set out on a mission to photograph all of the butterfly species in the British Isles and soon realised that a lot of the information I was after was difficult to find - especially reliable information on good sites to visit. As I toured the country I'd share information with other enthusiasts and this seemed to be the only way of getting the information I needed. I marked up a road atlas with sites, and the species found there. As the atlas fell to pieces with constant use, I quickly realised that the best solution was to store this information in a database. What's more, I also felt that the information would be useful to other enthusiasts, and made it available over the web. The rest, as they say, is history. The UK Butterflies website now includes detailed information on sites, species, flight times and much much more. Relatively-recent additions are the various forums which provide an excellent vehicle for the members of the UK Butterflies community to communicate!

I also support conservation activities in whatever way I can. I became a member of Butterfly Conservation in 2002, and took over the running of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight branch website in 2004. I handed off this responsibility in 2007, but continue to sit on the committee. I've also helped, and am helping, Butterfly Conservation with some of their national IT-related projects. I can be contacted at pete@ukbutterflies.co.uk.

Adrian Hoskins

I live in Hampshire, on the south coast of England. Within an hours drive of my home are a great assortment of butterfly habitats - mature forests, coppiced woodlands, heaths, grasslands, riversides, chalk and limestone quarries, meadows, Iron Age hill forts, sand dunes, sea cliffs, and farmland. This is an excellent area for butterflies - I've recorded 48 of the 65 British species within 30 miles of my home. I've had a life-long passion for butterflies, and try to get out and study them every summer weekend. In 1981, I became a founder member of the Hampshire branch of Butterfly Conservation, and served for several years on the branch committee, in various roles including County Recorder, Butterfly Report Editor, & Conservation Officer.

For many years I've been an enthusiastic nature photographer, specialising in landscapes and butterfly photography. Many of my photographs have appeared in magazines and books. My love of butterflies has taken me on many travels : in the early days I explored most of the British Isles by motorbike, and then spent several years visiting different areas of Europe, in particular the beautiful French Alps. I had however always dreamt about visiting the tropics, and in 1990 decided to go on a "once in a lifetime" safari in Tanzania. The idea was to see and photograph the lions, elephants, rhinos and other big game, but I found that I was using more film on butterflies than on mammals ! My next step was to visit the Asa Wright Nature Centre in the northern mountains of Trinidad - the perfect introduction to the rainforest and it's infinite wonders. There I saw my first Morphos, Owl butterflies and Heliconiines, not to mention hummingbirds, trogons, oropendulas, and a host of other avian delights. After that there was no turning back !

For the last 18 years I've been very privileged to be able to spend my holidays studying, photographing and surveying butterflies in the rainforests of Costa Rica, Trinidad, Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Malaya, Borneo, India, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Ghana. I now research, organise and lead butterfly watching holidays in conjunction with various UK tour operators. My "life list" of butterflies currently stands at 2101 positively identified species, and I get a great thrill every time I'm able to add another species to the list. Accumulating species lists however is only a very minor part of my interest - what really excites me is to observe butterfly behaviour, and to discover as much as I can about butterfly ecology.

In addition to supporting the UK Butterflies website, where I have written many of the species descriptions, I also run my own website at www.learnaboutbutterflies.com, the purpose of which is to not only communicate my passion for the natural world, but also to stimulate a deeper interest in butterflies, and the conservation of their habitats - particularly the rainforests. I can be contacted at adrian@ukbutterflies.co.uk.

Guy Padfield

I now live in the Swiss Alps, but my passion for butterflies began in Suffolk, in the UK, which was, in times past, a rich hunting ground for butterfly collectors. Times have changed. In my lifetime the heathlands and hedgerows of Suffolk have been steadily reclaimed and the countryside described by the writers of old has become more and more inhospitable to butterflies. There are some success stories - the white admiral has returned, and the brown argus and speckled wood have moved east again from their strongholds in the west of the county. Suffolk is still a beautiful county but all in all the story has been a sad one, and one repeated all over the country.

Many individuals and bodies fight for the preservation of habitats in Suffolk and everywhere there are still habitats to preserve. But there is only real hope if the value of what remains is generally recognised - if ordinary people gain pleasure from taking time in the wild and resisting the temptation to let it be replaced with the tame. It is not enough realised how almost every act of taming threatens the species which have evolved to survive in an interlocking web of copses, hedgerows, heathlands and wetlands. Every road that increases our access to the countryside divides and conquers the land it crosses. Every prairie farm is tippex on the ecological map. Every bit of crafted landscaping has a sinister, hollow ring beside the wilderness it replaces.

Finding, identifying and watching butterflies is an enthralling hobby. Anyone can become an expert on their own patch in a summer. If you haven't done so already, buy a book and get out there! When you find what is there, protect it, so generations to come will be able to gain the same pleasure.

I'm generally known on the UK Butterflies website for assisting with identification of European butterflies species in the various forums. In addition to supporting the UK Butterflies website, I also run my own website at www.guypadfield.com. I can be contacted at guy@ukbutterflies.co.uk.

Gary Richardson

I live in small village in west Hampshire, where my family has lived for at least two centuries and, like many of my ancestors, I am now a Parish Councillor. I have had many interests over the years, from keeping tropical fish (an obsession that eventually lead to owning a shop with over 80 tanks), to a ten year cycle racing career, from which I was forced to retire in 2001 due to a full trophy cabinet!!! I still keep fish in the way of a 5000 gallon Koi pond but, despite continuing requests from old team mates, I rarely get on a bike now. I spend my free time now doing quite a bit of falconry and a lot of photography - always accompanied by my wife/best mate and none-too-shabby photographer, Lisa.

I use a Canon 40D and own various Canon EF and Sigma EX lenses. I mostly do Macro work using a Sigma F/2.8 Macro lens. My interest with Butterflies, not surprisingly, started with photography but lead to a deep and passionate interest. For 26 weeks of the year I do a transect walk at my local site, and from April till September, whatever the weather, I go out to do some Butterfly photography.

I generally co-ordinate all photography-related aspects of the UK Butterflies web site, including the monthly photo competitions that are run in the photography forum. I can be contacted at gary@ukbutterflies.co.uk.