PhD 🦋 South West Landscape Officer for Butterfly Conservation.
Devon, United Kingdom
Joined August 2009
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- Following115
- Followers685
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Max Anderson retweeted
Insect migration is truly one of the world's wonders!
Here's a blizzard of small cabbage white & clouded yellow butterflies migrating through a narrow Pyrenean pass.
All are using the sun as a compass as they migrate south for the winter!
@savebutterflies @MigrantMothUK
Max Anderson retweeted
Mystery lights in the Haven?
UFO?
New, techno club night?
Nope.
Night time quest by John, Tony and Gary for Brown Hairstreaks -success! Thanks @ButterflyDan for remote ID assistance and to @maxando for the idea.
Max Anderson retweeted
I succeeded in tracking down this Purple Hairstreak caterpillar during my lunch break at Penryn Campus today. This individual was originally found as an egg back in March; it's not far off pupating now.
Max Anderson retweeted
Sometimes something simple like a UV torch can blow your mind. I always thought nature was amazing, but wow, just wow! Thank you @maxando!
Max Anderson retweeted
An early third instar Silver-studded Blue caterpillar from Poldice.
At this stage, they gain a pair of eversible projections at their rear end known as tentacle organs. The exact function of these is a bit mysterious, but the ants do appear to be very excited and drawn to them.
Max Anderson retweeted
Excited to share that we published another #butterfly 🦋paper🥳
We assessed landscape-level effects of permanent grassland management and landscape configuration on open-land butterflies based on national monitoring data:
doi.org/10.1007/s10531-024-0…
Summary below...
1/6
Max Anderson retweeted
Caterpillar hunting at Poldice today with @MilesBinnie and @phil_binnie. This is one of four Silver-studded Blue caterpillars that we found (along with my finger for scale).
Max Anderson retweeted
A Silver-studded Blue caterpillar tucking in to some fresh heather shoots at Poldice this afternoon, with its posse of ants in attendance.
Max Anderson retweeted
Tree of the Month, April '24, a big elm on Dinan Way - European White (Ulmus laevis) or American Elm? This tree was spotted 4 winters ago, but wrongly ID'ed as hornbeam. Local butterfly expert @maxando has been searching for elms and thought this was one - it is!
More info on FB
Max Anderson retweeted
Inspired by @maxando, I took a UV pen out this evening and had a look at some Elms for White-letter Hairstreak caterpillars. Once it was properly dark, I found a couple of WLH caterpillars fluorescing quite nicely.
A bonus Barn Owl was also seen.
Babraham, Cambs.
@bc_cambs_essex
Max Anderson retweeted
As the buds begin to burst of thier hosts my local Brown and Purple Hairstreaks are beginning to hatch. No sign of the caterpillars hopefully safely tucked up in a bud. UV torch in a few weeks time shall confirm.@BCKentBranch @BppRanger
ALT Recently vacated Purple Hairstreak egg on an Oak bud
ALT Recently vacated Brown Hairstreak egg on Blackthorn
ALT Recently vacated Brown Hairstreak egg on Blackthorn
Max Anderson retweeted
Have you ever seen 'glow-in-the-dark' caterpillars?
Join us for a #SaveDevonsTrees online event with @Maxando from @savebutterflies, who will shed some (UV) light on the subject of fluorescing caterpillars!
Event on Wednesday 10 April, 7pm. Book here 👉
buff.ly/3x952Dw
Max Anderson retweeted
This was such an extreme event with so many interesting behaviours to observe... Nice paper 👍
youtu.be/agRnFbbP5og?si=lmPx…
Max Anderson retweeted
New paper out: the awful heatwave in July 2022 gave us a glimpse into how insects behave when experiencing extreme temperatures, and what we can do to help them ☀️🔥🦋
doi.org/10.1007/s10841-024-0… – at Cambridge, England
Max Anderson retweeted
Many thanks to @peterjshallcro2 for delivering me some disease resistance elms this morning. We have Ulnus minor Ademuz and Ulnus laevus. An exciting start to the week. Thanks @maxando for reminding me on this. #elms
Max Anderson retweeted
Are you curious about wildlife conservation? 🦋
Passionate about speaking up for nature? 📢
We are looking for 10 inspiring individuals aged between 16-25 to join our first ever Youth Panel!
Find out how you can get involved 👉 butrfli.es/3HLhJGV
ALT Group of young people stood around a table in discussion. Text reads 'Join our Youth Panel' with Painted Lady butterfly graphic and Butterfly Conservation logo.
Max Anderson retweeted
NEW PAPER: Ever wondered why insects fly in all sorts of crazy patterns around lights at night? So did we! We set about recording flying insects to work out what's going on. I'll summarise what we found in this 🧵. Spoiler: We don't think they confuse lights with the moon.
Max Anderson retweeted
A nice example of the cryptic diversity that can exist within "species". This is why it's so important that translocations are informed by genetic studies.
Towards a genomic resolution of the Phengaris alcon species complex link.springer.com/article/10…
Max Anderson retweeted
Finally nocturnal pollinators getting some of the recognition they deserve! Really interesting talk from @maxando
Fingers crossed in a few years I can add my own research to the literature about these understudied and underappreciated pollinators!
#UKMRM #MothsMatter #TeamMoth
Max Anderson retweeted
Proof of concept/UK first, Lespedeza Thunbergii a larval foodplant of Long-tailed Blue in Sussex. Observation of egg laying in September on plants from @hayloftplants with captive rearing of larvae on Lespedeza flowers through to pupation culminated with emergence of adult today.
