BBC Radio 4 Nature programme – excellent documentary by Bret Westwood of the ecology and recent history of the large blue and the habitat management work at Collard Hill and Green Down.
Radio 4 Saving species Hear Jeremy Thomas and Dave Simcox talk about the re-introduction of thelarge blue in the cotswolds using larvae from both Collard Hill and Green down. Also featuring our very own Sarah Meredith! Start listwening from 9m 30.
. . . And read an article about the re-introduction in the Gaurdian by Patrick Barkham
Hear the caterpillars talk to the ants!. BBC sound engineer Chris Watson has recorded the actual sounds of the caterpillar mimicking the ants in order to live underground and feed off a host ant colony! Here and see footage of this from the BBC, and also on the Butterfly Conservation web-site.
See Matthew Oates from the National Trust on the BBC One Show (via UK butterflies web-site)
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) – The Co-ordinators of the large blue project, their website has an excellent array of detailed information and research into the large blue.
UK Butterflies – For the latest news from visitors to excellent butterfly sites across the country, including Collard Hill
Butterfly conservation Somerset and Bristol branch – For details of excellent sites to visit in Somerset
Somerset Wildlife Trust (SWT) – Details of the fantastic reserves managed by in the county SWT, including the donor site for Collard Hill – Green Down
With excellent weather forecast this week, and the general early emergence of most British butterflies this year, do you think we might see Large Blue emergence pretty soon?
By: Rogerdodge on May 31, 2011
at 4:51 pm
Hi Roger,
Thanks for your message, sorry for the delay replying. As you can see from the other blog entries the flight season is now well underway and we had a good handfull on the wing yesterday. With the good weather predicted for the weekend the prospects are good.
Rob
By: ntlargeblue on June 3, 2011
at 8:58 am