Bryan Reynolds' Butterfly Love plus a gorgeous new book "Butterflies: Decoding their Signs and Symbols"

If you go


Friends of Honor Heights Park Association
Annual meeting Feb 5, 10 a.m. Honor Heights Park Garden Education Room
Free and open to the public
Guest speaker: Bryan Reynolds, Butterfly photographer
Information honorheightsfriends@gmail.com, www.friends ofHHP.com or Matthew Weatherbee 682-9276


Bryan Reynolds developed a passion for nature while on his family’s farm in northwestern Wisconsin. When he retired from the Air Force, he pursued a career in nature and wildlife photography.

Many of his 20,000 images have been published in books, post cards, calendars and magazines such as Outdoor Photographer, Nature Photographer, Mother Earth News, Discover, Highlights for Children, and with the National Geographic Society. View his photographs at www.bryanreynoldsphoto.com.

Reynolds is also the Founder, President and Executive Director of a non-profit, The Butterflies of the World Foundation (www.botwf.org), whose mission is to improve public awareness of the conservation of butterflies and butterfly habitat and enhance public enjoyment of butterflies through educational programs and photography presentations.

The presentation that Reynolds will deliver at the annual meeting of Friends of Honor Heights Park Association on Feb 5 is titled “Butterflies … Here Today, Gone Tomorrow?”

For an in depth study of butterflies there is a new book by Philip Howse, called “Butterflies: Decoding their Signs and Symbols”. Howse also became interested in butterflies in childhood when his mother pointed them out to him. He grew up observing insects, then as an adult became a professor and author in the field.


Without being professorial or writing over our non-scientific heads, Howse weaves a captivating story of symbolism in ancient and modern history, nature, and art and how they are all tied to the patterning and coloration of butterflies and other insects.

There are dozens of beautiful photographs in the book. Some are two-page displays of a single butterfly and others illustrate iconic symbols such as skulls, snakes and birds. It is the kind of book you want to read slowly for understanding.

With that said, here are some of the fascinating butterfly and moth facts Howse included:

The artist Laurence Whistler included a peacock butterfly in an etched window in Dorset where Lawrence of Arabia is buried.

For thousands of years, bees and butterflies have been symbols of transformation between life and death and rebirth as the agents of pollination and seed formation as well as the creation of honey.

In the Middle Ages, the red admiral butterfly was associated with death because of the blood-red bands on its black wings.

Two years before his death, in 1670, the Roman architect, Gisleni, constructed his own marble epitaph which included a moth caterpillar spinning a chrysalis.

The yellow and black stripes of the common swallowtail butterfly mimic the spines of dangerous plants, helping keep predators at a distance.

Many butterflies look like leaves, tree bark, bird droppings, and grass stems. The banded peacock swallowtail has green stripes on a black background, providing camouflage when it is resting on green leaves.

The spots on the wings of fritillary butterflies look like the breast feather markings on some predator birds.

The folded tails of black swallowtail wings falsely look like a head and when the butterfly is upside down, it looks like a rodent, discouraging predators.

Eye spots on butterfly wings are designed to fool. The Precis opens and closes its wings repeatedly while eating so it appears to be opening and closing its eyes.

“Butterflies: Decoding their Signs & Symbols” by Philip Howse is much more than a book of butterfly facts. It is an engaging read for anyone fascinated by anthropology and the study of insects. With hundreds of color photographs, in a 9-by-12-inch, 190-page, hardback, it also qualifies as a coffee table book. $40 from Firefly Books; $22 online.

Hop to see you at 10 a.m., Feb 5th at Honor Heights Park.

Comments

Butterflies are my favorites!
I really like having butterflies at home. They can take away stress!
Philip Howse said…
Thankyou so much for your generous comments on my book. With the alternative subtitle 'Messages from Psyche' this has had rave reviews in Britain, but the N American edition has not attracted any attention so far - maybe this will be the start. There is more information on the Papadakis website for anyone interested.

Philip Howse
www.howsepe.co.uk

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