Our garden Gatekeepers really like our garden phlox flowers !

A female Gatekeeper on Allium sp in the gardens of Forde Abbey. The ground colour of the wings is pale (not worn), perhaps caused by heatwave shock during development (?).

Incredibly lucky to see a gorgeous fresh female Brown Hairstreak on the verge adjacent to Alners Gorse, at a lone thistle. Found none on the reserve itself.

Really nice to find a female helice form Clouded Yellow in Holwell Drove, this one feeding on the popular (and populous) Fleabane.

A scorching day on Bryants Puddle Heath and Graylings favoured the trunks of pine trees, very camouflaged. It took a flick of about 0.3 seconds on alighting for the orange and eye-spot marked forewing to disappear behind the hind wing.

A great season for Small Coppers which like a hot climate, this one on a local field hedgerow. Perhaps we shall have a 4th brood by October (?).

On the last day of our Scottish explorations, found beautifully marked Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries in bracken flushes close by our accommodation near Singing Sands on Ardnurmurchan. The species is widespread in (wetter) Scotland and regrettably lost from (drying) Dorset.

Expedition to the remote Ardnurmurchan peninsula of north-west Scotland. Sucess in finding newly emerged Chequered Skippers on a raised tussocky grass plateau above the shore of Loch Sunart.

A new migration of Painted Ladies, with several enjoying our weeping cotoneaster flowers ...

Good numbers of Marsh Fritillary on Giant Hill, ranging from miniature to large in size. This was the biggest.

Success today on my third expedition this May to find the Duke of Burgundy on Telegraph Hill. A single fresh example classically perching on a grass stem of the chalk hillside turf. Succulent larval foodplant cowslip in the foreground.

Unusually docile Painted Lady sheltering in a chalky nook on a windswept Telegraph Hill today ...

Near High Stoy this red clover, a great nectar source for bees, has been grown as an undersown companion crop with oilseed rape. Although not yet common practice, it's good for soil health and makes a shift towards regenerative farming.

A single Red Admiral along Heath Bottom to the east of Bulbarrow Hill. Many Green Hairstreaks too quick to picture with a mobile, they curiously perching on stinging nettle leaves - have not seen that before.

Good springtime for numerous cowslips in many places. This example waving in the breeze is from a wildflower area of our garden.

Display of Fritillaries still looking good in the churchyard of Pulham (Dorset).

February, so just one more month of the meteorological winter! On very grey days these Violas are looking bright, with spikes of yellow Species Crocus pushing through ...

Still January and we have our first garden camellia flower, on an east facing wall. This is even earlier than last year, lovely to see.

January mid-winter, good to reflect on summer butterflies. The Wall Brown has increased its distribution in southern Scotland, and become more numerous too. These 2024 images of female and male are from Galloway in the west and the Borders in the east - both typically enjoy basking on warm rocks.

As a welcome signal to pre-Spring, some snowdrops are already showing in our West Dorset garden. These will gradually increase in size and last for about two months if the weather stays cold (as they did last year). 🦋