Creation of newsgroup uk.rec.lepidoptera

[Matthew Smith]

Ian wrote:

>Chris,
>I think I am active in the lepidoptera scene in the northeast, but I
>have only been a sparodic poster to the leps-list because I have felt
>slightly uneasy about posting some news items (As the leps-list is
>global I am not to keen on *wasting* bandwidth) and have withheld from
>posting. These could be classed as

>extremley relevant to the northeast
>relevent to the u.k. scene 
>totally irrelevant worldwide.
>
>ian john waller

Ian

I think I would have to agree with Chris on this one, having been
subscribed to leps-list and/or sci.ent.lep for a while, there doesn't seem
to be the volume of UK only traffic to justify having yet another mailing
list to keep track of.  If there is something that may be of interest, even
to people in County Durham in the uk, post it, I dont really think you need
worry about using up bandwidth etc.  We get postings on the list from
enthusiasts in the US listing things in their back gardens, most of which
mean nothing to me here in the UK, though I am always interested in the
bits about the species I do know about (ie something went past recently
about the US foodplants for V.atalanta).  However, I wouldn't say put these
on a US only list, firstly because many lep species are multinational and
secondly, there aren't that many of us entomologists about, so any contact
is useful.

One of my regular niggles here in the uk is that recordsand information 
for various species are scattered all over the place and are difficult to
track down.   Also, not being a "full time" lep enthusiast, I dont know
that the Speckled Wood butterfly (P.aegeria) is uncommon down you way, if I
saw one I would probably put a record into my RECORDER system but would not
think to tell anyone about it, however, now I have seen you post I could 
let someone konw about it.  Posting you message to as wide an entomological
audience as possible wont hurt, and those who dont want to read it can
always delete it .  Overall, I think that having a UK only listing is a
poor idea, it would only make us (appear?) more insular than is nessassary.

Matt


Matthew Smith
MatSmith1 at compuserve.com