Advice for a novice?

[Lance Morgan]

My advice would be to do nothing this year - stick to the garden and local park and brush up on camera work and 'tactics'. Read you books and visit UK Butterflies UK Butterflies
Remember a lot of our native species are pretty local so you will have to travel to specific sites to see and photograph them. Half the fun is preparing for your field trips.

[PMG]

Depending on the price of the book I would highlight the names of the one's that are British as there are only 59 or 60 as Johnny Redgate says (and I can't remember which figure either!). If your book is too expensive to permenently mark then also buy a smaller cheaper one (I think the one in my campervan is the Mitchell Beezley) but what you need is something you can carry in your pocket (for the times when you see something but don't get a shot!). It might all seem confusing at the min but it gets easier esp when you realise that certain confusable species don't always live in the same places or habitats! The one's I still struggle with are Pearl Bordered and Small Pearl Bordered - I still cant get a handle on these two!!

Good Luck, have fun and look forward to seeing shots on here later

Pauline

[Fritter]

Oh, well that's my first lesson of the day - there is no such thing as the Cabbage White. Thanks Dogghound.

There is lots of excellent advice here thanks everyone. I feel much better about this, it seems a lot less daunting with all thse fantastic suggestions.

How do I find out about the WAB meetings Mike? Do you advertise them on the forum?

I like your idea Bugly, a transect monitoring survey seems like a really nice way to start off small.

I'm off to look through the Worcester wildlife Trust and Butterfly Conservation sites. Oh, and to see the prices of the some of the suggested books.

Please don't get me wrong btw. I am a fan of moths too. I think they can be very misunderstood, so they are of course on my list too, but better not run before I can walk.

Thanks a lot again. Who knows in a year or two I might be able to give others the great advice you've given me?!

Thansk guys

[Mike Jackson]

Have a look at Community - Meetings and Events at wildaboutbritain.co.uk for details of events and meet ups. You'll also find that people will post specific meet ups in the relevant section.

Mike

[Johnny Redgate]

Originally Posted by Lance Morgan

My advice would be to do nothing this year - stick to the garden and local park and brush up on camera work and 'tactics'. Read you books and visit UK Butterflies UK Butterflies

Oh no! Get out there in the wild as well, see what you can see, identify what you can identify. What harm can it do?

[PMG]

Originally Posted by Johnny Redgate

Oh no! Get out there in the wild as well, see what you can see, identify what you can identify. What harm can it do?

I think what Lance meant was get a good basic working knowledge and recognition of local and perhaps more common species rather than set a target to see certain things which would involve chasing around Britain without any real idea of what you were looking for. But on the other hand go out as much as you can or want to and go where you want and if you do want to see all 59 or 60 species in a year - whose to say no?

Its your life and as keeps being said its not a rehearsal - so see as much or as little as pleases you! I turned 57 this year and I may have a 'twitch' or two this year for certain things that I would like to see, photograph and pay homage to before I kick me clogs ........ and time is not on my side anymore - if indeed it ever was .............

Pauline