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In Pursuit of Butterflies: A Fifty-year Affair
Matthew Oates has led a butterflying life. Naturalist, conservationist and passionate lover of poetry, he has devoted himself to these exalted to their observation, to singing their praises, and to ensuring their survival. Based on fifty years of detailed diaries, In Pursuit of Butterflies is the chronicle of this life.
Oates leads the reader through a lifetime of butterflying, across the mountain tops, the peat bogs, sea cliffs, meadows, heaths, the chalk downs and great forests of the British Isles. Full of humour, zeal, digression, expertise and anecdote, this book provides a profound encounter with one of our great butterfly lovers, and with a half-century of butterflies in Britain.
Oates leads the reader through a lifetime of butterflying, across the mountain tops, the peat bogs, sea cliffs, meadows, heaths, the chalk downs and great forests of the British Isles. Full of humour, zeal, digression, expertise and anecdote, this book provides a profound encounter with one of our great butterfly lovers, and with a half-century of butterflies in Britain.
480 pages, Paperback
First published June 4, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 23, 2022
In theory, this is a five-star read for me, but I'm giving it 4 because it did take a while for me to really get into it. Oh, lord, how this book has affected me. I kid you not, I was on the verge of tears by the end. Something about this just... tugs at you, makes you ache for the woods and for the sound of birds and rivers, for summer. It's fitting that I finally finished this as summer is drawing to a close, though now the beginning of autumn proper feels a bit mournful. I was blessed to come across this book at the height of my newfound interest in lepidoptera, but cursed to read it mostly after prime butterflying season. Such is my woe, I guess, but the good news is, I am now armed with more knowledge and enthusiasm for next summer!
It does take a bit to really get into this book, I found, but once you do it's absolutely worth it. I think I struggled at first because it wasn't quite what I had imagined it to be; it really is just like reading someone's very beautiful and well-written diary, but eventually it hits just how stunning it all is. Oates is a master writer, and he has a lovely way of describing things, from the butterflies themselves to the places he visits to the people he meets. I was wholly absorbed, and sad when I realized I'd gotten to the end.
Above all, I think this is one of those books that's important because it changes your outlook on things. I think I'd always loved nature--and I'm starting to realize I'd always particularly loved insects--but sometimes, it takes someone else narrating their own love of and experience with it to get you to fully understand that about yourself. I highly recommend this, though it must be noted it is the kind of book you need patience for. But trust me, it's so worth it.
It does take a bit to really get into this book, I found, but once you do it's absolutely worth it. I think I struggled at first because it wasn't quite what I had imagined it to be; it really is just like reading someone's very beautiful and well-written diary, but eventually it hits just how stunning it all is. Oates is a master writer, and he has a lovely way of describing things, from the butterflies themselves to the places he visits to the people he meets. I was wholly absorbed, and sad when I realized I'd gotten to the end.
Above all, I think this is one of those books that's important because it changes your outlook on things. I think I'd always loved nature--and I'm starting to realize I'd always particularly loved insects--but sometimes, it takes someone else narrating their own love of and experience with it to get you to fully understand that about yourself. I highly recommend this, though it must be noted it is the kind of book you need patience for. But trust me, it's so worth it.
June 23, 2020
A very enjoyable, informative and witty read. It can be a bit of a calendar at times but the the moments on insight into the wonders of nature make it all worthwhile. Makes you want to get out there.
I took my time reading this book= preferring to dip in when in the mood - but towards the end I rattled through it.
I took my time reading this book= preferring to dip in when in the mood - but towards the end I rattled through it.
April 16, 2025
Hard to believe that someone could write around 120,000 words about just one species of butterfly, and still maintain fascination. But then the Purple Emperor is no ordinary butterfly, and Matthew Oates is no ordinary ecologist. Even if you have never seen one, and maybe never will, this book is a lovely piece of detailed yet humorous natural history writing.
March 13, 2021
A very inspirational book about his love of butterflies from the age of 10, intertwined with a small about of autobiographical material (enough to feel you slightly know Matthew anyway). Slightly nerdy, but as a fellow obsessive I can relate to that.
April 22, 2022
I did enjoy this, but it felt a bit repetitive in the middle
June 3, 2025
Very in depth account of fifty years searching for certain butterflies and their eggs, in woodland and in fields. A cosy read just perfect for the summer months.
September 6, 2015
Matthew Oates has worked for the National Trust for ever and is one of the country’s leading experts on butterflies. With this book, he becomes a leading writer about them too.
The book is a celebration of British butterflies and is an account of butterfly days going back for over fifty years. Do you remember the hot summer of 1976? I do, it was my gap-year before university, and I revelled in day after day of sunshine. You’d think that butterflies would like a scorcher of a summer but, of course, it’s a lot more complicated than that, and the chapter about 1977, the aftermath of the drought year, fascinated me. I was then at university and completely unaware of what was happening in the world of butterflies. That Matthew Oates can reach so far back in time, and write as though he remembers it perfectly, is thanks to detailed diaries that he kept from the early 1970s. The accounts are quite splendid and, as the author says in his introduction, although the topic is serious, cheerfulness keeps breaking through. The book is, at times, really quite funny.
The purple emperor, on which Oates is an acknowledged expert (perhaps the acknowledged expert) features prominently in the book, and I enjoyed his visits to my local Fermyn Woods where I’ll be looking for these butterflies in a few weeks time.
There was more rushing around with a butterfly net than I expected, and more (slightly dull, to this bird-man) talk of different varieties of particular species, but any naturalist will find this book interesting and an enjoyable read. There are plenty of personal anecdotes and experiences, encounters with other butterfly men (and a few women) and lots of joy over, and information about, butterflies.
It’s summer – it’s butterfly time! Go out and get this book to read on the inevitable rainy days of summer. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
This review first appeared on Mark Avery's blog http://markavery.info/2015/06/07/sund...
The book is a celebration of British butterflies and is an account of butterfly days going back for over fifty years. Do you remember the hot summer of 1976? I do, it was my gap-year before university, and I revelled in day after day of sunshine. You’d think that butterflies would like a scorcher of a summer but, of course, it’s a lot more complicated than that, and the chapter about 1977, the aftermath of the drought year, fascinated me. I was then at university and completely unaware of what was happening in the world of butterflies. That Matthew Oates can reach so far back in time, and write as though he remembers it perfectly, is thanks to detailed diaries that he kept from the early 1970s. The accounts are quite splendid and, as the author says in his introduction, although the topic is serious, cheerfulness keeps breaking through. The book is, at times, really quite funny.
The purple emperor, on which Oates is an acknowledged expert (perhaps the acknowledged expert) features prominently in the book, and I enjoyed his visits to my local Fermyn Woods where I’ll be looking for these butterflies in a few weeks time.
There was more rushing around with a butterfly net than I expected, and more (slightly dull, to this bird-man) talk of different varieties of particular species, but any naturalist will find this book interesting and an enjoyable read. There are plenty of personal anecdotes and experiences, encounters with other butterfly men (and a few women) and lots of joy over, and information about, butterflies.
It’s summer – it’s butterfly time! Go out and get this book to read on the inevitable rainy days of summer. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
This review first appeared on Mark Avery's blog http://markavery.info/2015/06/07/sund...
August 26, 2016
Well, I thought I was a little bit crazy about butterflies, and I certainly know people who are crazier about them than me - but Mr Oates takes the laurel crown on that score. This is not a read to be undertaken lightly, as it is heavily based on the very comprehensive diaries that the author has kept since his early teenage years. However, as well as being a detailed recorder and dedicated natural scientist, Matthew Oates is also a poet and believes strongly in the values and enchantments of the natural world.
There is not a great deal of biographical information in the book, but we do learn that the author has four children (all of whom seem to have names based on butterflies) and a wife who shares his passion for natural history, and who seems to be extraordinarily resigned to seeing very little of her husband during the butterfly season. This is not just the summer, by the way; there are eggs and hibernating caterpillars to be searched for, even when no butterflies are on the wing. There is also the episode when he take two of his young daughters up onto the Lakeland Fells, while he searches for the Mountain Ringlet - and forgets that his children are with him.
Above all, this is the story of an amiable obsession, particularly with the magnificent Purple Emperor and the 'heartlands' of the oak woodlands in the South of England that are its stronghold. There is a good deal of very interesting information about butterflies, based on detailed observation over 50 years, and I for one learnt much. Recommended to serious butterfly lovers with reading stamina.
There is not a great deal of biographical information in the book, but we do learn that the author has four children (all of whom seem to have names based on butterflies) and a wife who shares his passion for natural history, and who seems to be extraordinarily resigned to seeing very little of her husband during the butterfly season. This is not just the summer, by the way; there are eggs and hibernating caterpillars to be searched for, even when no butterflies are on the wing. There is also the episode when he take two of his young daughters up onto the Lakeland Fells, while he searches for the Mountain Ringlet - and forgets that his children are with him.
Above all, this is the story of an amiable obsession, particularly with the magnificent Purple Emperor and the 'heartlands' of the oak woodlands in the South of England that are its stronghold. There is a good deal of very interesting information about butterflies, based on detailed observation over 50 years, and I for one learnt much. Recommended to serious butterfly lovers with reading stamina.
September 25, 2015
Far too long. I skipped a lot of the accounts of the butterflies seen in given years. At half the length it would have been a more satisfying read.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews