Heart of England Butterflies is run by Ian Surman, a part-time college lecturer and life-long amateur lepidopterist.
Having bred a wide range of species over the years, with a fair degree of success, I always found myself with an excess of stock, and the company is a way of passing this on at a reasonable cost to other enthusiasts who perhaps do not have the time or resources to breed/ import a multitude of species simultaneously.
I attended my first exhibition as a trader in 1982 when I was just fourteen years old and I have fond memories of supplying eager enthusiasts at Granby Halls Leicester with the 100 or so Deaths Head Hawk pupae I had bred that year. A couple of summers spent helping out at Twycross Zoo insect house around that time reinforced my interest.
Our annual breeding successes / programmes
Hand-pairing of The Black Swallowtail (Papilio asterias) and Eastern Tiger Swallowtails ( Papilio glaucus)
Hand-pairing of the Giant Atlas (Attacus atlas) and Madagascan Moon Moth (Argema mittrei)
Why breed moths and butterflies?
Aside from the obvious fact that butterflies and moths are beautiful and fascinating, there are other practical, economic and ethical reasons why breeding lepidoptera is important:
- Many butterfly farms that trade in livestock and deadstock to the benefit of their countries' economies, are ensuring that rainforest or other habitats, and the species that live there, are protected from 'developers'.
- Dedicated breeders maintain colonies of captive bred species that may at some point need to be drawn upon by conservation bodies. They also replenish local populations by releasing excess stock.
- Breeders may discover hitherto unknown habits and/ or requirements of a given species, thus increasing our understanding.
- If a child's practical interaction with a moth or butterfly creates in them the desire to protect and/ or study our natural heritage, then breeding them must be seen to have value.
Is capturing butterflies from the wild wrong? Is killing butterflies and mounting them in a display case wrong?
With the ever-accelerating threat that humanity poses to bio-diversity it is natural for people to ask the questions stated above. Since my interest began as a child, times have undoubtedly changed. Children and adults today increasingly react with feelings of unease at the sight of mounted specimens in a display case and a collection of British Butterflies that I donated to my local primary school in the 1970's when I was a child was taken down several years ago for those very reasons.
However, it is important here to draw a distinction between the UK and other countries. The majority of our UK species are declining, some are seriously threatened and increasing numbers are given legal protection at varying levels. The pressure on habitat has never been greater, and issues of climate change and pollution further threaten to disrupt the stability of our native species. Nobody now would seriously recommend collecting Moths and Butterflies from the wild in the UK in the way that somebody would, for example, collect stamps.
Britain is unique in having an established organisation that looks after and protects the interests of British butterflies - namely, Butterfly Conservation. A number of full time staff and and army of volunteers manage existing sites, develop new habitats and re-introduce threatened or extinct species where it is sensible to do so. Despite their excellent work however, Butterfly Conservation is still sometimes powerless to prevent governments acquiring nature reserves, or other areas that support rare buttterflies. Such acquisitions are invariably for commercial or urban development projects and once the land has been claimed for these purposes then butterflies can never return. A number of developing countries have found innovative ways (detailed below) to deal with this latter problem, which sadly, despite their pragmatic approach, some rather self righteous individuals still find unpalatable.
Many people in developing countries face stark, economic realities and a daily struggle for survival. An easy and obvious solution to making ends meet is to clear large swathes of forest and rainforest to facilitate arable farming, in the way that successive governments in the UK might claim areas of natural beauty for urban development. Such a trend is catastrophic to fauna and flora and potentially to the world's climate. Increasingly however, many developing countries are looking for alternatives to deforestation for agricultural purposes and are turning to more eco-friendly ways of making money. One of these ways is through butterfly farming.
Overseas butterfly farms produce revenue and create employment for local people through the large scale breeding and harvesting of butterflies and moths. Typically, pupae, cocoons and dried and dead specimens are exported around the world to breeders and collectors. Whilst these farms continue to make money, valuable areas of eco-diversity are protected and so are the long terms survival chances of the butterflies and moths that exist there. Revulsion at the sight of dead butterflies which some well meaning people have, unfortunately clouds the distinctions between individual countries' circumstances and prevents them from seeing how butterfly farms can safeguard habitats and the future of butterflies.
It is vital that we do not simply have a knee-jerk reaction to the sight of set specimens, but rather we should assess the impact of our actions and the actions of others in terms of how they affect the long-term survival chances of the world's Moths and Butterflies.
ALL SET SPECIMENS SOLD BY HEART OF ENGLAND BUTTERFLIES ARE CAPTIVE BRED OR HAVE BEEN HARVESTED BY LEGITIMATE, LICENSED OVERSEAS BUTTERFLY FARMERS.
Please read: Killing Butterflies to Save Butterflies
A final word on breeding moths and butterflies
Butterflies and moths, like many insects, suffer high losses in the wild, so, for example, only one or two eggs laid will ever make it to an adult moth or butterfly due to predators and disease. Breeders often reverse this loss ratio and may only lose one or two and raise several hundred to adulthood! Clearly, collecting individuals from the wild when very few survive can seriously undermine the natural balance of our declining species, but where breeders find they have many surplus adult moths and butterflies, (from their captive bred stock), there seems little justification for criticism if these specimens are added to a private reference collection, supplied to zoos and universities or distributed amongst other interested parties.
Thankfully, due to the painstaking dedication and skill of breeders, there are captive reared stocks of even the rarest butterflies. Releasing them is also an option but unplanned, ill thought out releases of species can sometimes have unwanted and undesirable results for local flora and fauna. Non-indigenous species should never be released. These activities are best left to properly appointed conservation bodies when dealing with the rarer and more threatened species.
Captive breeding occupies a space between photography and the collecting of adult moths and butterflies for the purpose of classification or profit. It is an exciting and rewarding pastime for beginners and even for seasoned breeders there are always new species to breed and new techniques and theories to apply to try and overcome previous disappointments. Unscrupulous collectors who do not follow the naturalists' code and those who operate outside of the law are a serious hazard to the welfare of lepidoptera, alongside what is undoubtedly the main threat to our moths and butterflies, namely the wholesale destruction of their habitats and ongoing climatic changes.
If a pragmatic approach to conservation based upon a balanced assessment of what affects our moths and butterflies continues to prevail, then captive breeding will be enjoyed by generations to come. The aIternative is 'conservation' based upon 'purist' principles, that alienates individuals from nature and stifles interest in these wonderful creatures.
I sincerely hope that you derive as much enjoyment from rearing moths and butterflies as I have over the years and hopefully, we will all continue to do in the years ahead.
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