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Posts by Max Anderson

Roosting female Orange-tip

Roosting female Orange-tip

Orange-tip egg on Cuckoo Flower

Orange-tip egg on Cuckoo Flower

Female Orange-tip flying amongst Cuckoo Flower

Female Orange-tip flying amongst Cuckoo Flower

Orange-tip head

Orange-tip head

Orange-tips really kicked off during the warm period this week. Watched females peruse the stunningly beautiful Cuckoo Flower and lay some eggs.

1 week ago 20 3 0 0
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A special moment I'll never forget! A Large Tortoiseshell on my garden wall in Exmouth, Devon, basking in the evening sun. Without doubt one of the most exciting #butterfly experiences I've had! @savebutterflies.bsky.social @bcdevon.bsky.social

2 weeks ago 77 7 2 0
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Don't panic everyone, the White-letter Hairstreaks are out again! I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing this. Going to be checking for presence at some new sites this spring here in East Devon. All praise the UV torch! @bcdevon.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social

2 weeks ago 45 7 1 1
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Timing and weather conditions are pretty helpful. It gets easier as you go along, learning more about what they like. Also pays to search around if you find one, as you're quite likely to find more nearby!

3 weeks ago 1 0 0 0

I think it might give me more joy to see larvae than adults. They're almost always more interesting..

3 weeks ago 2 0 1 0
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Pearl-bordered fritillary caterpillars are coming along nicely in Devon. Spent the day at Haldon Forest, poking around pockets of violets along the broken edges of bracken litter @bcdevon.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social

3 weeks ago 60 7 3 0
A female Small Copper butterfly (Lycaena phlaeas) egg-laying on Common Sorrel (Rumex acetosa)

A female Small Copper butterfly (Lycaena phlaeas) egg-laying on Common Sorrel (Rumex acetosa)

Two eggs of the Small Copper butterfly (Lycaena phlaeas) on Common Sorrel (Rumex acetosa)

Two eggs of the Small Copper butterfly (Lycaena phlaeas) on Common Sorrel (Rumex acetosa)

Excited to see one of my PhD chapters now published! We found a trade-off between the quality of host plants and how warm they were for a declining grassland butterfly (Small Copper, Lycaena phlaeas) and looked at how this shaped their egg-laying choices: doi.org/10.1111/een....

1 month ago 100 22 4 5
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This Green Dragontail has to be up there with one of the most ostentatious butterflies here in Borneo. The transparent sections of the forewing, and those tails!

9 months ago 6 0 0 0
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After I spotted this extremely rare Allotinus brooksi butterfly in Borneo, I was amazed to find what looked like midges on its underwing. Not just one or two, but a whopping eight!

Not something I've ever seen before!

9 months ago 6 0 0 0
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Super excited to find the incredibly rare, Allotinus brooksi in Sabah, Borneo!

Over 110 years after this impressive butterfly was first discovered and collected in Sarawak, it was spotted for the first time in 2021, here in Sabah!

9 months ago 4 0 0 0
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The Five-bar Swordtail from Thailand. Lover of puddles.

1 year ago 12 0 0 0
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Common Mapwing from the island of Koh Chang, Thailand. You can see where these stunning but flighty butterflies get their name. They're often found taking up nutrients from damp ground near open streams and waterfalls.

1 year ago 11 0 1 0
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The immature stages of many Lepidoptera are known to fluoresce when showered with UV radiation - but what is the evolutionary advantage of doing this? An article, by Ben Greenaway, may explain why: www.dispar.org/reference.ph.... Purple Emperor pre-pupation larva and pupa photos below.

1 year ago 61 14 1 1
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Between 2014 & 2016, I studied the Chequered Skipper in Scotland. One memorable encounter was watching a larva spin silk between the edges of a leaf. As silk dries, it contracts, and this pulled the leaf edges together to create a protective tube. Amazing! More at www.dispar.org/reference.ph...

1 year ago 106 15 0 0

Yes, it also works on Brown Hairstreak larvae. Doesn't work for eggs. Definitely wear UV protective glasses as they protect your eyes and make finding the larvae even easier.

1 year ago 0 0 0 0

This is fluoresence, not reflection. The caterpillar absorbs the UV and re-emits something in our visible spectrum. So in theory, it may function as a defence against predatory birds that can see in the UV spectrum.

1 year ago 1 0 0 0

New, innovative approaches have made finding and monitoring Purple Hairstreak larvae far easier. Using UV torchlight can help to better understand the ecology, distribution, population density and dynamics of this incredible species, amongst others!

1 year ago 60 9 3 1
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Common Pierrot, Southern Laos

1 year ago 11 0 1 0
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While in Southern Laos last week, I had a look around some Ziziphus jujuba on the side of a path and found some eggs and caterpillars of the Common Pierrot butterfly. Great fun!

1 year ago 13 1 0 0
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This remarkable Lycaenid butterfly from Northern Thailand is the Fluffy Tit, Hypolycaena amasa. Just look at those outrageous tails!

1 year ago 13 0 0 0
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Semi-open riparian forest and forest edge habitats here in Northern Thailand are amazing places for butterflies. The abundance and diversity is so refreshing to see.

1 year ago 17 1 0 0

Huge congrats Will! Fantastic news!

1 year ago 1 0 1 0
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We've spent a few days hiking in Northern Thailand, and it's been so rewarding to stumble across some of the most stunning butterflies.

1 year ago 11 0 0 0
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Behold, the imposing, Indian Purple Emperor. Here in Northern Thailand, they descend to take up minerals from the rocky banks of a stream, starting a fight with almost anything that passes by.

1 year ago 38 5 1 0
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Common Pierrot, from Northern Vietnam. The adults are pretty chilled out and a bit less flighty than many other Lycaenids tend to be. Stunning little butterfly.

1 year ago 20 2 0 0

Certainly is.. the ants seem to completely avoid the adults

1 year ago 1 0 0 0
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The adults often lay these amazing eggs amongst or near aphids and ants, to save the caterpillar time in finding its first meal. What an astonishing life-history strategy!

1 year ago 7 1 0 0
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Here's the caterpillar of Bigg's Brownwing butterfly from Vietnam, which feed on aphids. They're often found being carefully chaperoned and inspected by ants, which farm the aphids for honeydew.

1 year ago 29 8 1 0
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This is Bigg's Brownwing, Miletus biggsii, an amazing butterfly from Vietnam. As a caterpillar, they eat aphids!

1 year ago 33 6 1 0
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Three Tawny Coster butterflies (Acraea terpsicore) settling in for the evening in Southern Vietnam.

1 year ago 5 0 0 0