If you would like to pass on memories of Don, or comment on the site, please contact us by using the button above.

“I think this site is very interesting and is a great thing to do I am sure Don  would be proud” - email from Natalie Bunyan

We have included Don’s notes exactly as he wrote them as reminders for when he was giving slideshows to various bodies. We know that he expanded on these, but we wish to remain true to the original documentation.

Butterflies

1. 58 species of butterflies breed in the British Isles; 38 species recorded in the past in this area.

Speckled wood butterfly

1. Favourite haunts are woodland paths, shady lanes and the outskirts of woods.
2. It shuns bright sunshine. 
3. Food: Plant grasses.
4. Caterpillar 25-28mm.
5. Its ground colour is a clear glass green running the length of each side is a darker stripe boarded by a light greenish-yellow line.
6. The butterfly's life is probably not more than 20 days.
7. Only seen in 1947 in Twigmoor.

Swallow-tailed caterpillar

1. In the swallow tail, the chrysalides are suspended in an upright position by means of a silken girdle, the tail end being attached to a pad of silk.
2. Haunts fenlands of Cambridgeshire and Norfolk.
3. Eggs laid on hog's fennel and wild angelica.
4. Caterpillar - 52mm in length.  Ground colour brilliant green, inclining to bluish in places.
5. Life of butterfly 25-30 days.

Cuckoo-spit froghopper

1. The froghoppers derive their popular name from their somewhat frog-like appearance due to their broad heads, coupled with their ability for leaping.
2. The nymphs live within a frothy substance known as "cuckoo spit".
3. Unprotected as adults.
4. The only colourful frog-hopper cercopis vulnerata occurs mainly in sallows and alders.

Dragonfly

1. All dragonflies are carnivorous, catching other insects while on the wing.
2. The larvae or nymphs change to adults in a gradual process with no pupae stage.
3. When nearly mature they climb up a plant stem out of the water and shed their last larval skin, expand, dry their wings, and fly off as perfect adults.

Common Wasp

1. Feeds on liquid substances.
2. The ovipositor is a piercing instrument injecting a poison.
3. It builds its nests and produces queens, workers (females) and drones (males).
4. The queen which hibernates after mating in the autumn is the only common wasp to survive the winter.
5. Only female wasps sting.

Hunting Spiders

1. A considerable length of silk thread can be drawn continuously
   from a living spider.  A nephila web can readily be made to give 1000 feet of silk, mention of up to 2,200 feet is quoted.
2. The female spins a very large egg pill.
3. To produce a pound of silk, 27,000 spiders would be needed.
4. The average thread thickness is 0.01 mm.
5. A thread 0.002 diameter long enough to go round the world would weigh less than 6 ounces.