That's a wrap on our Orchids of Tenerife tour - with all our orchid targets found and enjoyed, plus much further bonus wildlife including all endemic bird species possible. The 2027 tour, with @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social & Dave Fairhurst, is now available to book: mariposanature.com/tours/botani...

Fuerteventura is the driest Canary Island and pretty much a beige/brown desert most of the time. This past 2 months has however seen the wettest winter in living memory and has led to a huge greening of the island, with a wonderful mass flowering. I feel privileged to see it. 💚

New tour alert 🚨 And it's an exciting one! We're delighted to announce that our popular leader Dave Fairhurst is leading a long weekend tour to the Netherlands this coming late autumn to look for Wolf on 12-16 November. Places available to join him: mariposanature.com/tours/mammal...

The pre-tour research and fieldwork of @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social has been central to the success of our inaugural Orchids of Tenerife tour - it’s no exaggeration to say that his knowledge has been crucial to the great days we’ve enjoyed thus far.

Up in the clouds, hanging out with the rainbows that dropped hundreds of feet below us, our Orchids of Tenerife tour found a pot of gold today - Canary Orchid (Orchis canariensis). Sharp eyes from leader Dave Fairhurst, and superb tour preparation from @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social. Much joy!

I just couldn't resist another dose of the island endemic Tenerife Giant Orchid (Himantoglossum metlesicsianum) today with my @mariposanature.bsky.social Orchids of Tenerife group. What an outrageous species this is! #orchid #NaturePhotography #EastCoastKin

Good morning & welcome to a new week! Just 3 places remain available on our featured tour this week, Butterflies of North Greece. And naturally, like all our butterfly holidays, it's a tour that generates a donation to support @europebutterfly.bsky.social. (1/2) mariposanature.com/tours/butter...

Sometimes it's not about the rareness of the butterflies. Often it's about enjoying & appreciating the beauty of the common. The Geranium Bronze is "just brown and grey" - except it isn't at all! One of only two introduced European butterfly species, from South Africa, I love it. #Fuertevetura

Green with envy... we've spent today exploring the wooded areas and forest margins of Tenerife, in search of two special green orchids - Canarian endemic Habenaria tridactylites, and shy Mediterranean & Macaronesian specialty Gennaria diphylla. Both seen very well indeed! 💚

On holiday in Fuertevetura relaxing & topping up Vitamin D after grey UK winter. However my keen eye as a guide for @mariposanature.bsky.social is always alert. So when this butterfly flew past me unexpectedly on the beach I immediately knew it as the rare Greenish Black-Tip #lucky #butterfly

The National Trust is halfway to their appeal to buy Giant Hill, one of the UKs top butterfly sites, also rich in insects and flowers. The last good habitat for Duke of Burgundy in Dorset. Please donate if you can @nationaltrust.org.uk www.nationaltrust.org.uk/support-us/a...

Another wildlife highlight of the past year was returning to Hungary, on the 30th anniversary of my first visit there. Sought-after butterfly delights seen there, with my good friend János Oláh for company, included Lesser Clouded Yellow and Pallas's Fritillary.

Looking back at 2025, we've lots to be proud of, not least having delivered some super tours to happy guests, and donations to @bsbibotany.bsky.social & @europebutterfly.bsky.social. More news and looking forward to the year ahead in our New Year's Day blog: www.mariposanature.com/about/news/2...

Come and join me up on Hutton Roof for some (dark) red hot orchid action with the Helleborines if you fancy it in July 2026!

That's us signing off now for a short while. From us all here at Team Mariposa, wishing you all a very happy Christmas, and a healthy and wildlife-filled new year ahead. Take care everyone. 🎄

It's December 1st, day 1 of our annual Mariposa #AdventCalendar - daily wildlife wonders shared until Christmas! Today we've Ophrys x fajarama, a spectacular hybrid orchid from our brand new Orchids of Basilicata, Campania & Puglia tour. No wonder that one's already fully booked... 😍 #orchids

We are so excited to announce that Spain's preeminent butterfly authority, Miguel López Munguira, is now part of Team Mariposa! Miguel's vast knowledge and experience will enhance our existing Spanish tours; and he's also designing some new tours. We're over the moon! (1/2)

Our Orchids of Rhodes tour is the ultimate exploration of the orchid flora of that wonderful Greek island. The 2026 tour has been fully booked since April 2025, and now the first bookings are coming in for the 2027 tour... this one always fills fast! (And donates to support @bsbibotany.bsky.social)

Good morning and welcome to a new week! This week's featured tour is Butterflies of North Greece, our immersion next June into the intoxicating richness of butterfly life in the region. With David Moore & Martin Davies as their leaders, guests are sure...(1/2) mariposanature.com/tours/butter...

The new European Butterfly Red List is published today, with worrying findings. Over 1/4 (28%) of Europe’s 442 species are threatened with extinction or are close to being so. The situation is far worse for our 148 endemic species, 40% are now threatened or nearly so www.bc-europe.eu/webpage.php?...

It's #FrohawkFriday, the day we celebrate the butterfly studies & artwork of FW Frohawk. Today features Large Heath, inhabitant of acidic, wet peatlands mostly in the north. Since Frohawk's time it's declined badly in England and Wales; Scotland remains a stronghold to this day.

Good morning, and welcome to a new week! Our featured tour this week is Butterflies of Tenerife, a guaranteed departure on 24-30 March 2026. Like ALL of our butterfly tours, it generates a donation to support the great work of @europebutterfly.bsky.social. (1/2) mariposanature.com/tours/butter...

An unforgettable day with my @mariposanature.bsky.social group. I found Desert Babul Blue on the European mainland! There are a mere handful of past claims of it - this is an African species that's an ultra-rarity in Europe. I'm in a state of some shock. #butterflies @europebutterfly.bsky.social

Dunn's Patent Pasha Paste. Take one ripe banana. Slow cook on a car dashboard for a day in full sunlight until liquified. Add rum and sugar for added vim. Enter suitable hilltop habitat full of Strawberry Tree... (1/2)

Just three places remain available now to join us next year for our Late Spring Orchids of Sicily tour, led by 'Orchid Summer' author Jon Dunn, and local Sicilian naturalist legend Andrea Corso. As the Sicilians say, amuninni! www.mariposanature.com/tours/botani...

It's #FrohawkFriday, the day we celebrate the butterfly studies and artwork of FW Frohawk. Today features Ringlet, a widespread species across most of Britain, whose range has expanded north a little since Frohawk's time. Bejewelled with eyespots, its name is self-explanatory.

Well and truly home now after 8 days on the @mariposanature.bsky.social holiday to Madeira. Such a wonderful island. Yes I focused on the endemic Madeiran butterflies. But the scenery is stunning. I'll certainly be visiting again. 😍

Fascinating Day 7 of the @mariposanature.bsky.social Madeira holiday. Hundreds of this Madeiran subspecies of Small Copper, having seen 0 previously. They're beautiful & locally common . Much underresearched in terms of their LHP & phenology. I suspect they'll become a distinct species soon

Madeiran Speckled Wood on the left. (European) Speckled Wood (introduced invasive) on the right. Superficially similar but very different when seen in field. Fascinating to observe their different habitat likes & their interactions. Loving the @mariposanature.bsky.social holiday to Madeira

This is one of the two last Gatekeeper butterflies in my garden for this year. Still hanging on, but tatty round the edges. They don't normally last until mid-August, so it's been a long flight season given their early emergence this year.

My main target in Moscardón was the Zapata's Ringlet, an endemic in the area. The first day I drew a blank but a couple had been seen. The second day I saw a couple in the afternoon, on the third day more but none behaved apart from one on a guy called Roberts wrist taking salt. Blog on lojawildlife

Some utterly gorgeous Iberian Sooty Copper basking in the morning sunlight heralded the start of our final full day in the Montes Universales yesterday.

Postcard from the field, from tour leader @dunnjons.bsky.social on our final full day of the Butterflies of the Montes Universales tour: This was a day that included more wonderful views of endemic Zapater's Ringlet, but we were spoilt for choice as other beauties vied for our attention.

More bad news for butterflies. Our new paper led by Wendy Leuenberger shows common species are declining even more rapidly than rare ones. @ZipkinLab Three decades of declines restructure butterfly communities in the Midwestern United States | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2501340122

It's a guaranteed departure on 2-9 March 2026, and it's also guaranteed to generate a donation to our good friends at @bsbibotany.bsky.social, to help support their vital botanical conservation work. Great orchids, great birds, great reptiles, great butterflies - this tour has it all. (2/2)

Good morning, and welcome to a new week! Our featured tour this week is Orchids of Cyprus, a marvellous way to start the spring, looking for orchids (and other wildlife) on this warm and friendly island with @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social & Dave Fairhurst. (1/2) mariposanature.com/tours/botani...

Mother of Pearl Blue - I will never get bored of these little gems, least of all when they're as fresh as this beauty was early this morning here in the Montes Universales.

It goes without saying that we love butterflies of all kinds, regardless of rarity, and take time on our tours to enjoy seeing the various aspects of their life cycles. Yesterday, here in the Montes Universales, a new generation of Silver-spotted Skipper was beginning.

Chuffed to find a small colony of Chalkhill Blue on the Purbeck Ridge. First I have seen here in 5 years of looking. They have vanished from most of Dorset for unknown reasons. Either they are having a good year or I have been very unlucky in previous years! @dorsetbutterflies.bsky.social

You couldn't possibly micro-target this tour to me more effectively than showing that much thistle at once! 👀

Postcard from the field, from our sun-drenched Pallas's Fritillary and Summer Butterflies of Hungary tour this week: A roadside stop demonstrates how butterfly-rich this wonderful country is. Dozens of fritillaries in constant motion. Joy! youtu.be/b13-wDvE3Go

Quick BOC shot before I fall asleep here - a smart, fresh Eastern Baton Blue this afternoon near our hotel here in Hungary. It’s so good to be back in this friendly country - I first came here 30 years ago and, while much has changed in the interim, the butterflies and the warm welcome remain.

Postcard from the field from tour leader @dunnjons.bsky.social, co-leading our Hungarian summer butterflies tour: We arrived in Hungary this afternoon, so will be getting properly underway tomorrow, with a great weather forecast ahead of us, and hopefully some outbreaks of great #butterflies!

Ended my time in south Spain today with this Plain Tiger. This following my 5th new species in 3 days with Andalucian Anomalous Blue. Back to work tomorrow! Thanks to @lojawildlife.bsky.social for the help in site identification

We're VERY excited to announce a new tour! Butterflies of the Hautes Pyrenees with Kate Humble will run 9-16 July 2026, with Kate and Mariposa founders David Moore & Jon Dunn as your hosts to explore one of Europe's most spectacular landscapes. (1/3) #butterflies mariposanature.com/tours/butter...

Short video of Andalusian anomalous blue Polyommatus violetae in the Sierra Nevada

Truly overjoyed with finding Nevada Grayling! Almost certainly on its way to extinction in Europe due to climate change. But found 3, clinging on in the high Sierra Nevada in Spain. Never thought I'd see this species! 😍🦋😀. Huge thanks to @lojawildlife.bsky.social for guiding me over the 3 day trip.

After three weeks of tour leading for Team Mariposa, leader @selbypaul.bsky.social has earned a break. Naturally, he's spending that time looking for butterflies! 🦋 #legend

After 3 weeks out of the last 4 guiding @mariposanature.bsky.social holidays, time for my own holiday. In the Sierra Nevada in Spain. Three endemics (Spanish Brassy Ringlet, Nevada Blue & Spanish Red Underwing Skipper) plus the endemic subspecies of Apollo. A great day!

Day 7 of the @mariposanature.bsky.social holiday to the French Alps gave us spectacular views. But also two more butterfly species too. Osiris Blue & Riparts Anomalous Blue takes us to 135 species. Smashing the previous record of 132 for these 8 day trips.