Special Offers
Pure Silk hanks These are English reeled 20/22 Denier raw silk hanks produced at the Lullingstone Silk Farm and Worldwide Butterflies.
These fine silk hanks were reeled on the same hand reeling machine, the only one in
The size and weight not standard but the illustration shows a hank picked at random. This is a unique product!
Special temporary promotion price.
NETTING Fine Black Nylon 5 metres 170cm wide
Was £18.95 (£3.79/m) SPECIAL SALE PRICE now £13.95 (£2.79/m)
Ideal for covering box tops, cages, netting replacement and making sleeves. This soft netting is ideal for making field nets.
This netting is durable, resists tearing and deterioration in UV light. It is fine enough to keep out minute flies and parasites.
Spring Frame Pocket Net - new superior design
This net is better made and designed than any other pocket net we have ever seen.
Normal price £45.50 SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY PRICE £34.95
The compact folded size is most convenient for lightweight travel and is ideal for unencumbered field work, when you need both hands free for photography and examination. From pocket to open net is achieved in seconds.
The design is based on an ideal design from Japan that was in the WWB range over 50 years ago, but became unobtainable. After a long absence we have now sourced this updated and even sturdier quality frame, that will last indefinitely and provide a most important aid to field study.
The short handle is nicely balanced, and all that is usually needed, but an adaptor is supplied to allow the use of one of the telescopic handles (available separately and not with this net), when required.
The diameter is an ample 35cm or 14", folding down to only 13cm or 5", easily fitting a trouser pocket.
Scroll right to see all the pictures.
TO FOLD hold the frame at arm's length (to keep the spring steel away from the face) with both hands, and twist in opposite directions, forming a figure of eight. Draw both hands together, which forms the frame into a small circle. The spring steel can be held in place by hooking it under the knurled knob at the join to the handle. The bag is then wrapped round and tucked into itself, to keep the frame from springing open.
The net bag is fitted by threading the spring steel frame through the net bag rim. The drilled ends of the spring steel are overlapped and secured by a knurled knob that screws into the metal Y-piece with short handle. Included is a thread converter that should be kept in a safe place for use if you wish to use a telescopic handle that uses a 6mm screw thread.
Please note that the above description and illustrations are given here for reference when you wish to fit the bag and learn to fold it. Printed instructions are not sent with the net, so if you are buying for somebody else, they may need to refer to the above.
The same figure of eight fold is shown without the net bag:
NETTING Fine Black Nylon 10 metres 170cm wide
If you are thinking of making a netting structure, cage covering and replacement or making sleeves for rearing larvae, this is the ideal netting.
Soft and easy to use. Durable, resists tearing and deterioration in UV light. It is fine enough to keep out minute flies and parasites.
THE MINI SILK FARM
TEMPORARY PROMOTION PRICE!
A complete outfit for rearing silkworms from egg to cocoon, and reeling your own raw silk. Everything is provided: a small batch of eggs, food for the entire life of 20 silkworms, all the rearing equipment, detailed educational documentation and instructions, and a miniature reeling device.
There is even a small bag of cocoons so that you can practise reeling, and don't have to wait to rear the cocoons from the egg.
Normally Silkworms feed on Mulberry leaves. This is an uncommon tree that is not always readily available, so we are providing a substitute food, which is a powder that comes with the necessary instructions for preparing the artificial diet in the kitchen. You will have a supply of fresh food always available for the silkworms throughout their life of about a month.
The Mini Silk Farm can be bought at any time of the year. The eggs are stored in a fridge until incubation. Although rearing in summer is easier because of temperature, you can rear silkworms almost throughout the year, if you can keep them at about 25º-28ºC. Eggs supplied in winter will need to be refrigerated for 8-12 weeks before incubation.
The instructions guide you through easy rearing, preparation of the artificial diet and the reeling process. The Mini Silk Farm is fun and unusually educational.
NETTING Fine Black Nylon 20 metres (2 x 10m) 170cm wide.
Was £53.90 (£1.90/m) SPECIAL SALE PRICE now £39.95
Ideal for large structures, flight areas etc.
Use for cage covering or making sleeves for rearing larvae.
This netting is durable, resists tearing and deterioration in UV light. It is fine enough to keep out minute flies and parasites.
Ordering in 20 metre lots brings the price down very low! A lot less than £1.90 per metre, 170cm wide. Probably an unbeatable price.
Duo Peacock Butterfly Inachis io and Small Tortoiseshell urticae 10 larvae of each
Ten larvae each of the Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock Butterfly. Both feed on Stinging Nettle. Young larvae should be kept on growing foodplant, covered with a netting sleeve, or reared in plastic rearing containers, cleaned out and fed daily as shown in the All Colour Paperback BUTTERFLIES. When larger, the larvae can be caged with cut nettle in a jar or water, on on potted growing foodplant.
Keeping two species of larvae together on the same foodplant? It is sometimes possible, but their way of life may differ and we recommend keeping them separately.
Allancastria caucasica South Russia and Turkey
A group curiously placed between Apollo and Swallowtails. This species is MOST DIFFICULT TO OBTAIN!
Described originally as a subspecies of Allancastria cerisyi, this species was first given species status by Kuhna as recently as 1977.
Rarely obtained, we have a few pupae available immediately. Very slender pupae, almost remeniscent of Orange Tip.
The female is particularly heavily patterned and quite distinct from other Allancastria.
The larvae feed on Aristolochia pontica, A. pallida, and A. iberica. In captivity they have been reared on A. pistolochia and A. rotunda.
Marsh Fritillary Eurydryas aurinia
The butterflies fly from May into June. Eggs are laid in large clusters on the underside of Devil’s Bit Scabious.The larvae Feed on Honeysuckle (wild is best), Snowberry or the natural foodplant Devil’s Bit Scabious. The larvae live in a tightly formed web, growing only a little before they hibernate in autumn.
Marsh Fritillary Eurydryas aurinia
The butterflies fly from May into June. Eggs are laid in large clusters on the underside of Devil’s Bit Scabious.The larvae Feed on Honeysuckle (wild is best), Teasel Snowberry or the natural foodplant Devil’s Bit Scabious. The larvae live in a tightly formed web, growing only a little before they hibernate in autumn.
Small Tortoiseshell
Young larvae should be kept on growing Stinging Nettle, covered with a netting sleeve, or reared in plastic rearing containers, cleaned out and fed daily as shown in the All Colour Paperback BUTTERFLIES. When larger, the larvae can be caged with cut nettle in a jar or water, on on potted growing foodplant. In a matter of weeks the pupae are formed hanging from the cage top, and the butterflies emerge in a little over a fortnight.
The Small Tortoiseshell has suddenly become scarce where once it was common. By releasing either butterflies or larvae, it might help to bring back this once common butterfly.
The butterflies can be kept in a cage for a few days, with plenty of flowers for nectar, and then released to help the wild populations.
Keeping two species of larvae together on the same foodplant? It is sometimes possible, but their way of life may differ and we recommend keeping them separately.
Small Tortoiseshell Aglais urticae
Young larvae should preferably be kept on growing Stinging Nettle, covered with a netting sleeve, though they can be reared in the open without cover, as in the wild. The larvae can be kept in plastic rearing containers, cleaned out and fed daily as shown in the All Colour Paperback BUTTERFLIES. Container-reared larvae need to be scrupulously clean and always with very fresh food. Please read the notes at the head of Plastic Rearing Containers on the WWB website.
When larger, the larvae can be caged with cut nettle in a jar or water, on on potted growing foodplant. In a matter of weeks the pupae are formed hanging from the cage top, and the butterflies emerge in a little over a fortnight, depending on temperature.
The Small Tortoiseshell has suddenly become scarce where once it was common. By releasing either butterflies or larvae, it might help to bring back this once common butterfly.
The butterflies can be kept in a cage for a few days, with plenty of flowers for nectar, and then released to help the wild populations.
