I was born and grew up around Oslo, Norway. Even since childhood, I’ve been interested in insects and nature in general. In the late sixties and early seventies I started collecting butterflies and moths, but unfortunately the interest lasted only a few years. Thinking back today, I believe the interest was always there, because one day in July-84, myself and some friends went for a picnic and I saw a large butterfly that I recognised. It was one that I remember trying to catch when I first started collecting. Of course this time around I didn’t have a net anymore, so the butterfly was probably very happy. On our way home, I couldn’t get the sight out of my mind. I suppose that the interest had awakened once again. Within a couple of days I made a new net and went back to the same area as I first saw it. To my surprise it was still around and this time I didn’t go home empty handed. A couple of weeks later at a carnival in Oslo, I saw an old friend of mine that used to collect too. I had not spoken to him since the seventies, but approached him and he remembered me too. He had never stopped collecting and invited me to come along one night when he was going to a park in Oslo. We got a few nice moths and my interest was back for sure.

This was back in 1984 and I have never stopped collecting since. I got to know a lot of collectors in Norway and Sweden.   Every year I went on numerous trips around Scandinavia, sometimes alone, but mostly with friends of mine. I always collected on a scientific level, doing surveys etc, as I have always been against any commercial activities that involves any stage of Lepidoptera. Everything that I collected in Norway has been registered in a national database. I became a member of Lep-Arb, which is a group of 10 people interested in Lepidoptera (both amateurs and professionals). We registered data from both private and museum collections. This to get as much information as possible about distribution of all Norwegian butterflies and moths, so that we eventually could publish a distribution catalogue.  Most meetings were held at the Zoological Museum in Oslo, as we had a lot of work to do regarding organizing the collection at the museum as well.

In May 2000, I moved from Norway to the Gold Coast on Australia’s east coast and brought my collection with me. Because of restrictions (the need for permits in most areas of interest) on collecting in Australia, I mostly collected when on holidays. I also had a 400w Mercury Vapour light behind the house, which attracted a lot of moths. I've made a few very interesting finds of species mostly found in rainforests up in north Queensland. In 2007 I moved into an apartment on the coast, so these days my collecting is restricted to a few weekend field trips and 4 weeks holiday that I normally spend in the Daintree Region (2 x 2 weeks). After 12 years in Australia, I have finally met up with a few other collectors. I have also joined  the Entomological Society of Queensland, this to be able to exchange information and to get to know people with the same interest. Since October 2009, my focus has been mainly on the Australian Hawkmoths.

Bjørn Fjellstad

Gold Coast, December 2010