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In loving memory Colin Lewis Baker
7th August 1941 - 3rd April 2017
It is with the heaviest of hearts that I have to announce the loss of a truly special man, our Col. He passed away peacefully at home on 3rd April 2017 aged 75.
This website was his passion and he threw everything into it. The hours upon hours of research and design, not to mention the time spent in the field taking these wonderful photos for all of us to enjoy, is proof enough that he was loving what he was doing in his retirement and he had found himself another full time job!
To those of you he met on his jaunts around the English countryside, thank you for being a part of his life and sharing his enthusiasm. Nature really was Col's religion.
The link below gives details of our 'send off' for him and we have set up a donation page for those wishing to donate, rather than arrange flowers, to a charity so very close to the family's heart.
mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/colinbaker
Cheers to you Mr Baker. I will miss you every single day. You were, and always will be, simply the best X
Welcome to
Lepi-Photos
A guide to the wonderful world of Butterflies & Moths
Lepi-Photos
A guide to the wonderful world of Butterflies & Moths
The Website
My website, created in October 2012, would come under the heading of ‘UK butterflies and moths’, wherever they appear in the world, with additional European species seen on holiday.
Each species of butterfly or moth is represented by a single web page, which includes general descriptions, photos, larval foodplants, and taxonomy.
The Lepi-plants sub-heading shows the larval foodplants and lists all the butterflies and moths whose larvae use a particular plant which can be cross referenced on each species page.
The self-explanatory Home Page, which I try to refresh each week, shows photos of my local area, butterflies & moths, larvae, nature reserves, larval foodplants and, at the bottom of the page, other wildlife encountered on my field trips for the interest of the viewer.
Finally, I run a Lepi-blog which records sightings, both at the moth trap and out in the field, as well as keeping visitors informed of website changes.
My website, created in October 2012, would come under the heading of ‘UK butterflies and moths’, wherever they appear in the world, with additional European species seen on holiday.
Each species of butterfly or moth is represented by a single web page, which includes general descriptions, photos, larval foodplants, and taxonomy.
The Lepi-plants sub-heading shows the larval foodplants and lists all the butterflies and moths whose larvae use a particular plant which can be cross referenced on each species page.
The self-explanatory Home Page, which I try to refresh each week, shows photos of my local area, butterflies & moths, larvae, nature reserves, larval foodplants and, at the bottom of the page, other wildlife encountered on my field trips for the interest of the viewer.
Finally, I run a Lepi-blog which records sightings, both at the moth trap and out in the field, as well as keeping visitors informed of website changes.
About my interest !
My name is Colin Baker and I was born in the town of Fleet in NE Hampshire in England, an area surrounded by woodland and heath, adjacent to Fleet pond, which is the largest stretch of water in Hampshire. This was the perfect habitat to spark my early interest in butterflies and moths.It was by Fleet pond in an area called “The Sandhills” that I first saw a female Emperor moth depositing eggs and was so struck by her beauty that it is as vivid in my mind today, as it was some forty plus years ago.
My name is Colin Baker and I was born in the town of Fleet in NE Hampshire in England, an area surrounded by woodland and heath, adjacent to Fleet pond, which is the largest stretch of water in Hampshire. This was the perfect habitat to spark my early interest in butterflies and moths.It was by Fleet pond in an area called “The Sandhills” that I first saw a female Emperor moth depositing eggs and was so struck by her beauty that it is as vivid in my mind today, as it was some forty plus years ago.
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Where it all started
Still "Fir-tree" Island,just
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"Without doubt “The best things in life are free!!,”and I truly believe if we don't understand that which surrounds us we are unable to find the true meaning of life or fully appreciate why we are here in the first place." ☆
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...and this the "Cold Stream" feeding the pond via Basingstoke Canal
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Why it all started
Lobster Moth - Stauropus fagi
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I have often wondered what really creates a budding lepidopterist. Is it the excitement of colour or just maybe its respect for an insect that has to undergo four stages, the egg (ovum), caterpillar (larva), chrysalis (pupa) and butterfly or moth (imago) knowing that at every stage, predation is common place.
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Lobster Moth - Stauropus fagi
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Our Beautiful Countryside
Aston Rowant - Beacon Hill
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One thing is certain,the hobby of photographing & recording butterflies & moths can start at home or take you to the most beautiful sites in the country.
These nature reserves are there for us all to enjoy but remember it is important to respect these sensitive habitats. ☆
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Crantock - Cornwall
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Thanks to the advent of technology and the introduction of the DSLR camera I now consider myself a late amateur lepidopterist, enticed back into my hobby after following the Hampshire Butterfly Conservation sightings for a whole year, seeing butterflies and moths I could only have dreamt of all those years ago, due to my lack of knowledge.
With concerns for the state of our butterflies I decided to buy a camera and join the list of butterfly and moth recorders monitoring populations in the south of England.Butterflies and Moths shown on this website are taken in the field or at home or on holiday trips to Portugal,Cyprus and Bulgaria as well as donated photos in order to fulfill the systematic lists of British species. I wish to thank all those who have kindly donated these photos to the website.
The website has been produced just to share butterfly and moth photos taken in the wild with the general public and like minded people, in the hope that maybe it will create the motivation for people to, firstly enjoy the butterflies and moths, and secondly join their local butterfly conservation group or assist in any way they can in helping these beautiful insects survive a world that for them is ever becoming smaller and smaller due to habitat loss and global warming.
The website is not meant to be an authoritative guide, although it is almost impossible to produce a website about butterflies and moths without wanting to add references of interest for the viewer as a whole, but would suggest those of you wishing to take the interest further also visit the many well known UK & European butterfly and moth websites in order to further your subject knowledge.
I would like to thank my fellow lepidopterist friends who, with their vast knowledge of butterflies and moths and extraordinary willingness to share with others, has been my inspiration, and to whom I offer my utmost respect and thanks.
Colin Baker
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Larval Food Plants
Alcea rosea - Hollyhock - LFP Mallow Skipper
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Plants For a Future : "A resource and information centre for edible and otherwise useful plants".
I wish to offer my utmost thanks to "Plants for a Future'' for giving me their very kind permission to link the butterfly and moth larval food plants shown on the species pages to their 7000 plant database. |
Geranium robertianum - Herb Robert - LFP Geranium Bronze
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This will provide readers of this website with an additional resource regarding the following:-
a)Identification of larval food plants in the wild.
b)Planning of a wildlife garden by selecting larval food plants to suit local butterflies or moths requirements.
c)The cultivation & propagation requirements of larval food plants for breeding programmes.
Plants shown on the species pages with black names and no hyperlink are not included in the (PFAF) database.
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Additonal Wildlife
Although butterflies and moths form virtually all this website, nature in general will always be of interest and so below, photographs of other wildlife encountered during site visits are added for the interest of the viewer.
Although butterflies and moths form virtually all this website, nature in general will always be of interest and so below, photographs of other wildlife encountered during site visits are added for the interest of the viewer.
Red Mason Bees - Osmia rufa
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Photographs shown will include Coleoptra
(Beetles),Odonata(Dragonflies),Fungi, Reptiles etc With no long range lens I'm afraid birds will not generally be included in this section although friends send me photos from time to time which will be included. ☆
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Large Bee-fly - Bombylius major
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Field Notes
The Mason Bees came out on about the 19th April this year when the Dandelion comes into flowers so they can do the circuit visiting most of the flower heads.She is a small common solitary bee that usually nests in plant stems,holes in cliffs or in crumbling mortar but mine are neatly housed in four of these custom made bamboo houses.After mating the female with line the bamboo with mud and pollen,depositing a single egg as can be seen from a previous year above.The larva will develop and pupate in the autumn before overwintering and cheering me up next year. |
Field Notes
The Large Bee-fly is another one of those insects seen early at this time of the year where they can be found when searching for Duke of Burgundy butterflies at Noar Hill. A strange looking bee with a sword like appendage pointing forwards from the head which they use to feed on spring flowers of which the Primrose seems to be a favourite. The Bee-fly mimics bees so it can get next to the solitary bee burrow where she flicks eggs into the burrow which emerge feeding on stored food and young solitary bee or wasp. Not to be invited round for dinner!!! |
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Photographic Equipment
My first camera, a Fuji Finepix S7000, was purchased back in 2006 and I still use it today for taking photos of ovum and larva.
Taking photos of butterflies is a continually evolving and so it was with this in mind I bought a Canon EOS 30D body with a Sigma 105mm Macro lens.
In 2013 a kind donation by my brother means my current camera is a Canon EOS 50D,thanks bruv.
In September 2009 I finally purchased a Canon IS 100mm macro lens which provides me with the image stabilisation I need today as I do not carry a tripod.
I find the hills of the South Downs in Hampshire and Dorset a task in itself, so carrying the extra weight of a tripod is sadly far too restrictive.
As such all photos shown in the field on this website have been taken "hand held".
For inside work with moths I always use a tripod because the situation is far more manageable.
Another day,another year it was time for an upgrade and so my latest acquisition is a Canon 70D
My first camera, a Fuji Finepix S7000, was purchased back in 2006 and I still use it today for taking photos of ovum and larva.
Taking photos of butterflies is a continually evolving and so it was with this in mind I bought a Canon EOS 30D body with a Sigma 105mm Macro lens.
In 2013 a kind donation by my brother means my current camera is a Canon EOS 50D,thanks bruv.
In September 2009 I finally purchased a Canon IS 100mm macro lens which provides me with the image stabilisation I need today as I do not carry a tripod.
I find the hills of the South Downs in Hampshire and Dorset a task in itself, so carrying the extra weight of a tripod is sadly far too restrictive.
As such all photos shown in the field on this website have been taken "hand held".
For inside work with moths I always use a tripod because the situation is far more manageable.
Another day,another year it was time for an upgrade and so my latest acquisition is a Canon 70D
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