Douglas is a lepidopteran prodigy and flamboyant soul.
— Mr J. Lowen, quoted from his book Much Ado About Mothing (Bloomsbury), May 2021
Thanks again for a superb talk last night. Everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy it and there was some really nice feedback from attendees.
An amazing amount of ground covered in one session!
— Mr J. Common, Natural History Society of Northumbria, April 2021
Doug has been an absolute asset to our team at Wytham Woods!
Doug has helped us with public facing guided light trapping and with systematic surveys of the Woods’ moth-residents.
He has the unusual combination of skills of being a world-class expert who is also able to communicate well with the public and key stakeholders,
many of whom walk away with some of his infectious enthusiasm. He’s a pleasure to work with, personifying reliability and professionalism.
In fact, we often use Doug’s detailed but readable reports as examples to other contractors.
— Mr F.J. Chadwick, Wytham Woods Citizen Science Coordinator, February 2021
Brilliant! Well done [Doug]! Much deserved - [Butterfly Conservation's] youngest ever County Butterfly Recorder, moth recorder extraordinaire & fantastic PhD student.
— Dr R. Fox, on Douglas winning the NBN's Newcomer Award 2020 [via Twitter], November 2020
Doug gave us a hugely entertaining introductory talk on UK’s moths. It ranged widely from identifying common moths through to answering questions on the impact of climate change on UK moth numbers and distribution. Seriously impressive knowledge and passion – even more notable as he gave it remotely because of lockdown.
— Mr A. Field, World Wildlife Fund, UK, June 2020
Fantastic talk by [Doug] at [Butterfly Conservation's] #BCAGM: county butterfly recorder since the age of 15, mothing on mountains & giving his parents bird fleas!
— Dr D. Hoare, Butterfly Conservation AGM & Members' Day attendee [via Twitter], November 2017
In 2014, members of the Montgomeryshire Field Society were truly privileged in securing Douglas Boyes as the provider of 4 days training in
'The Identification of Butterflies and Moths', over 4 consecutive summer months. From his first introduction to the group, it was clear that he was keen to deliver whatever
was of most use to us, and to cater for both beginners and 'improvers'.
His Powerpoint presentations, illustrating the main British macro moth families and butterfly
species, were reinforced by an excellent day's field trip. He provided plenty of opportunities to identify recently trapped moths over the four months, alerting us to the
different flight seasons of a wide range of both macro and micro moths. He also covered habitats, lifecycles, anti-predation and overwintering strategies, conservation
efforts and the importance of recording results, both nationally and as ‘citizen scientists’.
His desire to share his huge depth of knowledge, based on more moth-trapping
and researching than most people could contemplate, coupled with his enthusiasm, patience, excellent 'people skills' and delightful sense of humour, ensured that every member
of the group became inspired and highly motivated.
His professionalism and friendly, easy-going approach to what we all agreed had been a highly informative and above all enjoyable course, is
something we will always remember. His incredible passion for his subject is infectious, and the increased number of eager moth and butterfly recorders in the county is a
direct result of his first-class training expertise.
A truly exceptional young man, with a real flair for his subject and the skills to share this with those lucky
enough to meet him.
— Mrs S. Southam, Montgomeryshire Field Society, August 2015
Wow! Impressive talk from [Doug] on increasing recording effort in Montgomeryshire
— Dr C. Bulman, National Butterfly Recorders' Meeting attendee [via Twitter], March 2016
Douglas has been an invaluable member of the MMG (Montgomeryshire Moth Group) since 2010. Over the next few years his aptitude and drive to learn everything about moths
was quite remarkable – his skills have now extended to identifying leaf mining species and genitalia determination; indeed, I could now easily be a student of his!
During the last seven years Douglas has been a stalwart member of our mothing group and has always turned up for all our mothing events; no matter what the weather conditions
he was there to be relied upon; he is definitely a ‘lynch pin’ member of the group. He is always on hand to members of the public who turn up, giving advice and help
concerning ID issues in a friendly and knowledgeable way.
To sum up,I would say that anyone who uses his new venture would be very fortunate indeed to have found such a dedicated person, and, I would not hesitate for one moment in recommending him to anyone.
— Mr P. Williams, VC47 county moth recorder, July 2015
Thanks so much for putting together such an awesome session, I learnt LOADS! Really looking forward to the trapping.
— Ms V. Rose, participant in the Oxford Moth Project [via Twitter], June 2015