The butterfly in the image below is a Chequered Skipper. It was caught in 1971 at a location in Rutland where my brother had discovered a new colony. The same site also boasted two other rare species – Black Hairstreak and Duke of Burgundy Fritillary. They are all gone from there now and the Chequered Skipper was declared extinct in England in 1976.
I was eight when my interest in butterflies began, kindled by my father’s suggestion to his two bored sons that they should try and catch those white butterflies flitting around the garden. Small plastic bags grabbed from the kitchen and energetic but usually fruitless leaps into the flowerbeds followed.
Equipment and aim improved and over the next few years a collection was accrued. That was in the 1960s and 70s and there seemed to be a plentiful supply of butterflies around. Collecting seemed a harmless pastime and was not frowned upon. The Butterfly Conservation Society was in it’s infancy, it’s first President lived down the road and he had a collection, so the question of ethics never occurred. Today, butterflies, along with most other wildlife have undergone a serious decline in numbers and Butterfly Conservation, now a much larger organisation, has a very different view. Six UK butterfly species are protected by law and society in general is much more aware of the threats to all of the natural world.
My collecting days finished many years ago, but my interest, passion and excitement for butterflies and moths and all of nature still persists and occasionally I share it with others in the form of talks, or moth-trapping events! But there has always been a conversation in the back of my mind about writing a play around the subject – but what shape would it take? The fascination and beauty of the creatures themselves is obviously something to engage people with. Also the history of collecting and collectors, many of whom are beyond eccentric, is worthy of a play on it’s own! But it needs something more.
That ‘more’ for me at the moment, has to do with the current global crisis we are facing as a result of our human over-exploitation and destruction of the natural ecosystems of the planet. Were my brother and I, and all those collectors that went before, guilty of being part of that over-exploitation in our own small way? Species extinction is now well-documented and man made global warming seems to be undeniable. It is there now in our everyday consciousness and we are starting, slowly, to put policies and practises in place to address the upcoming catastrophe – but is it enough and is it just words?
‘The Butterfly Collector’ is a developing idea, which so far has found form in two short films. The first, made during the first Covid lockdown in 2020, presents a man in isolation…..but who is he, where is he and why is he there? The second, moves the idea on and presents a different character, with a story that may have had it’s beginnings in that first character.
2023 saw the opportunity to develop ‘The Butterfly Collector’ further as a theatre piece: ‘The Butterfly Collector’ part 3. Click over to the the adjoining image to find out more about how the idea has developed and how you can book that show.
ps. The Chequered Skipper has now been re-introduced back into some of it’s former restored habitats in the East Midlands.