Blues and Coppers Workshop with Peter Samson

You don’t want to miss out on this workshop. It will be a unique chance to get to know our largest butterfly family which consists of blues, dusky-blues, ant-blues, forest-blues, grass-blues, pencil-blues, coppers, jewels, moonbeams, oak-blues, azures, hairstreaks, flashes, ciliate-blues, opals, ceruleans, and pea-blues, a collection of names which already draw on your curiosity. Needless to say, there are plenty of similarities in wing patterns which make distinguishing and identifying to species level often quite a challenge.

Dr Peter Samson, a retired sugar cane entomologist and program manager, has a particular love of our Blues and Coppers, and has been researching Lycaenidae in detail. His publication on them is under production, and we hope to see it in the first half of 2025.  Peter will provide a highly interesting introduction to the butterfly family and insights into how to identify these mostly tiny little beauties. This workshop will help our understanding of this butterfly family and support our efforts to confidently record species during our surveys.

This workshop will provide a great opportunity to improve our skills. After receiving some tips on how to go about it, teams will be given the task of identifying specimens in cases rotated between them.  We have field guides and magnifying glasses for you (and encourage you to bring your own field guide as well). The winning team will take a little prize home.

Our workshops are held in a great relaxed atmosphere, and for this event we have chosen the Archerfield Wetlands Community Hub, a new facility in the only recently opened Archerfield Wetlands District Park in Durack.

We are grateful for the financial support received from Wettenhall Environment Trust, the provision of meeting space by Brisbane City Council, and thank all member groups of Brisbane Catchments Network  participating in Brisbane's Big Butterfly Count. 

If you have any questions, contact Jutta Godwin on 0407 583 441.

Please secure your spot and book in early.