About this website

When I took over as Webmaster, I found the UTB website difficult to maintain and update (as data was all mixed up with page layout), and difficult to navigate. Having spent a good portion of my career designing websites, I decided to come up with something better.
During the winter of 2017/18 I developed a new design, which (as far as possible) separated data out into a database. Navigation was made easier by having a consistent horizontal menu bar at the top of each page.
I kept working on the new website during 2018, and, with the help of a few volunteers, ironed out some issues with it (thanks to the volunteers that helped with this). I made the switch to the new version on 22nd December 2018. There were a few glitches that needed sorting out, but these were relatively minor.
New features include:
  • A summary of first sightings, events and news on the home page
  • The ability to filter events by type
  • A revised 'recent sightings' page - only one month's data at a time is displayed
  • A new form for submitting sightings and photos
  • First sightings can be shown by species or by year
  • Each first sighting for a species is compared with the mean emergence date for that species, and shown as either in advance (-) of the mean, or later (+)
  • The 10K Square champions page has an interactive map – clicking on a square will show a small map of the area covered
  • A list of sites is included with the description of each species of butterfly
  • An updated list of sites, with photos where available
  • A distribution map for each species
  • New site location maps (added later)
Planned features include searching recent sightings for a species, adding more site photographs, populating the 10K Square champions map and adding transect information.
If you have suggestions for improvements or new features, please get in touch via webmaster@upperthames-butterflies.org.uk
David Hastings