Papilio machaon ssp britannicus

[Yorky]

The sole member of the family in the British Isles, exceedingly local entomologists travel a long way to see it.

[Yorky]

A few more

[Trehopr1]

What a nice crop of specimens you have there !

I have a half dozen specimens of ssp. gorganus from Europe. Also have ssp.syriacus from Iraq. However, I can't seem to get any dang specimens of brittanicus !

I have probably seen at least 15 from Britain offered over the last 3 years but every guy and his brother seems to want them and I have been constantly outbid on any decent specimens; maybe someday I'll finally reel one in.

[Trehopr1]

I do hope there is a program in place over there to protect the species and allow it to flourish.

I've heard the native fens over there are in trouble either due to an imbalance of salt or agricultural herbicides getting into the waters...

[Yorky]

The fens were drained for agriculture. What is left is managed for the butterfly and it's now more abundant than at any time in the last 50 years. It's so hard to get because all specimens must be sold under licence, all of mine are old and historic apart from one that I obtained from a pupa from Worldwide butterflies in the early 1990's.