Dispar
The Online Journal of Lepidoptera
ISSN 2056-9246
The Online Journal of Lepidoptera
ISSN 2056-9246
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by Dennis Dell.
Nobody can fail to be fascinated by butterflies: their beautiful colouring, intricate wing patterns, and, above all, the miraculous transformation from egg to larva to pupa and finally to the adult butterfly. Apart from the larvae of the Small and Large Whites nibbling your cabbage leaves, they do no harm, and they perform a useful service as pollinators.
I was hooked from the age of 10 when I encountered these beautiful creatures in Epping Forest, Essex. Because their larvae generally feed on the leaves of various wild plants, to see the less common species, it is necessary to visit wild, unkempt areas of countryside. Such places have become more difficult to find as a result of increasing urbanisation and agricultural land use. Searches for the rarer species, in Switzerland and in the UK, took me to beautiful habitats: woodland, meadows, and hillsides.
Just as rewarding has been meeting the many 'kindred spirits' during this long journey who share this fascination.
I once visited Finemere Wood in Buckinghamshire in the early 2000s, in search of the elusive Black Hairstreak, and bumped into a fellow enthusiast who was carefully placing captive-reared Purple Emperor pupae on suitable sallows. We had a good natter about these 'rescues' and I was generously asked if I wanted to photograph the pupae before they were all released. This was my first encounter with Dennis Dell, a stalwart of the Upper Thames branch of Butterfly Conservation. What I didn't realise at the time was that his generosity, enthusiasm and focus on Purple Emperor are three of the qualities that characterise the author, and these come across in this book.
This book is, in essence, Dell's memoir, taking us through his personal butterfly-centric journey from 1958, ultimately taking the reader through his exploits in the UK, followed by a 20-year period in Switzerland, before returning back to the UK. Many readers will find many of the anecdotes familiar, such as the magical feeling when seeing a new species, or the results from rearing various species in captivity. Matthew Oates, the country's foremost expert in the Purple Emperor, has written the book's foreword and I'm sure that Oates' own work, His Imperial Majesty, must have been an inspiration to Dell, with many similarities between the two works.
Given the time period covered, it should not be surprising that the initial sections hark back to a time when Lepidoptera were much more plentiful and collecting the norm. With a scientific background (Dell worked as a research chemist), such activities always have a purpose. Inevitably, many of the anecdotes are in relation to sites or species that have since been lost and perhaps this will act as a wake up call, although most readers will already be well aware of the fragmented and fragile landscape in which we now live.
The author should be complimented for the amount of time he has spent inspiring others to study and conserve butterflies on their local patch, both in the UK and Switzerland, with numerous examples of the author's community-focused activities sprinkled throughout the book. This work is certainly a great advertisement for the value of keeping a diary of records and observations, and especially logging your sightings in a recording scheme.
Another emphasis that comes across in the book, especially when reading about the author's return from butterfly-rich Switzerland to the UK, is that we can get as much enjoyment from going 'deeper' into understanding the ecology of the species we have, rather than simply ratcheting up a 'tick list' of species seen. This is certainly the path that I've taken myself in the last couple of decades and have found this to be extremely rewarding.
This book is very well written and its structure also allows the reader to easily dip in and out as time allows. All in all, I found this to be a very enjoyable and entertaining read, and I dare say that this book will inspire others to follow a similar butterfly-filled life.