2008 - Alderney Butterflies

Date of issue: 28 February 2008.

Of all the world's creatures (and this is quite a claim), butterflies must be among the favourites. Beautiful, elegant and so delicate that we want to take care of them, butterflies enjoy an entirely positive reputation. When we see one, we're not irritated but charmed. They don't buzz around threateningly like certain other flying insects and if one should land on our hand or knee, our natural reaction is to sit very still, with a sort of awed admiration, honoured that we have been chosen.

Is Alderney a great place to see these creatures? According to Roland Gauvain of the Alderney Wildlife Trust, who, along with entomologist David Wedd, helped us enormously with this issue, it is probably more appropriate to say, 'Alderney is a good place to see a wide variety of them in a short period of time.'

There are currently 30 species recorded in the island, some in huge numbers.