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Half a century ago, Belgian Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans first codified cryptozoology in his book On the Track of Unknown Animals.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) are still on the track, and have been since 1992. But as if chasing unknown animals wasn't enough, we are involved in education, conservation, and good old-fashioned natural history! We already have three journals, the largest cryptozoological publishing house in the world, CFZtv, and the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world, but in January 2009 someone suggested that we started a daily online magazine! The CFZ bloggo is a collaborative effort by a coalition of members, friends, and supporters of the CFZ, and covers all the subjects with which we deal, with a smattering of music, high strangeness and surreal humour to make up the mix.

It is edited by CFZ Director Jon Downes, and subbed by the lovely Lizzy Bitakara'mire (formerly Clancy), scourge of improper syntax. The daily newsblog is edited by Corinna Downes, head administratrix of the CFZ, and the indexing is done by Lee Canty and Kathy Imbriani. There is regular news from the CFZ Mystery Cat study group, and regular fortean bird news from 'The Watcher of the Skies'. Regular bloggers include Dr Karl Shuker, Dale Drinnon, Richard Muirhead and Richard Freeman.The CFZ bloggo is updated daily, and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Come and join us...

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Sunday, June 21, 2009

WHITE ERMINE

When I was a boy and lived in the same village where I find myself living now, I was always obsessed with lepidoptera and one of the most fertile spots for hunting said creatures was not the hedgerows and fields; not the lanes and woodlands but the wall of the village shop.

The village shop (which in those days was owned by a couple called Paddon), had (and indeed still has) whitewashed walls and there are two large street lamps, which cast great pools of light upon the walls.

These used to provide a perfect moth trap and each morning, as I queued up outside the shop for the school bus, I would check the walls for moths. The most common was this: the white ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda). This chunky medium-sized moth is allegedly quite common over most of Britain, and produces hairy caterpillars that eat a variety of weeds and garden plants, and I have always thought of it as being one of the species that is synonymous with Woolsery.

The only trouble is that I haven't seen one here for years. Although I check the walls, the village shop no longer acts as an attractor for moths and although other species (a considerably smaller viaiety, however) still glide silently across the North Devon night, there ain't no white ermines and I have grieved the fact for the past four years.

Then, once again, Greg came to the rescue. Greg is my ten year old Godson who, unlike so many boys of his age, still catches butterflies and moths (although his collection involves a digital camera rather than a setting board). Greg was the first to photograph one of the painted ladies a few weeks back and now he is the first to catch, photograph and release white ermines. Thank you Greg, my dear. You have restored my faith in nature, both human and otherwise....

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