This is the story of my daughter Milly and Lyme Disease. There was no rash, no "summer flu", NHS blood tests negative. And she's been ill for a quarter of her life. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s... Thank you @lymediseaseuk.bsky.social & @lymeresourcecentre.bsky.social for raising UK awareness.

Hello from Greece 🇬🇷 Cyclamen maritimum. Sunday is the day of rest, but I’m happily working away on several new @greenwingstours.bsky.social European tours that are on the horizon & will be launched between now & the end of October.

Good morning from Greece 🇬🇷 Classic scene this time of year, Aegean Meadow Brown (Maniola telmessia) nectaring on Carlina gummifera. Not many flowers until the autumn rains come, so these thistles are v valuable to insects.

It’s Fritillary Friday again. Here’s a Titania’s Frit by Alice H and a Marbled Frit by Harry F. Both images taken on one of our tours in the Vercors, France 🇫🇷 #Leptember

A few of todays highlights from our ongoing butterfly tour in South Africa - names in ALT text. This was a new tour, which is proving to be a successful one, with all the main targets being acquired and lots more besides! #Leptember

In case you missed it: lots of amazing and heartening pond restoration going on. Research is likely to confirm that seeds "lost" in the bottom of filled-in ponds can remain viable for 100s of years so ponds and their aquatic plants leap back to life. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Dedicated to a special mother on her birthday. Gone in one sense but always present & treasured in others. Colchicum macrophyllum, a treasure of autumn in Greece 🇬🇷

Let's have a 'Two for Tuesday' for #Leptember! Two beautiful butterflies and images taken on one of our tours in Spain by guest Mikael R. Spanish Festoon (Zerynthia rumina) & Desert Orange-tip (Colotis evagore).

Good morning from Greece 🇬🇷 Oh no!, another Violet Dropwing, I hear you say…

Good morning from Greece! Hope your Monday and week ahead is as vibrant as this Violet Dropwing (Trithemis annulata).

Goodnight from Greece 🇬🇷

Another Violet Dropwing (Trithemis annulata) from yesterdays shoot. As well as dragons I also enjoyed good views of a gorgeous Kingfisher and a few butterflies, Two-tailed Pasha imbibing minerals being the best of the bunch!

Millet Skipper (Pelopidas thrax) for #SkipperSaturday & #Leptember. It's not brightly coloured but I really do like this robust little species. Oh, and just look at that unfeasibly long proboscis! Gene Simmons eat your heart out! 👅

Already confirmed to run & filling up, so be fast if you'd like to join this exclusive Italian tour! 🇮🇹🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️

'Fantastic Four' Let's have #SkipperSaturday for #Leptember today! There are between 3,500 - 4,000 Skippers worldwide in the Hesperiidae family. Here's a few from our tours in Peru, Bolivia, South Africa & Serbia. Feel free to share some of yours too, we'd love to see them!

Starting on a ‘high’ in South Africa on day 1 of our unique butterfly tour today! Our guests have already seen their top prize, the much sought-after Hutchinson’s Highflier (Aphnaeus hutchinsonii)! 😊

Everybody’s favourite…Violet Dropwing (Trithemis annulata). Today in Greece 🇬🇷

Praying Mantis, a gravid female.

Female Indigo Dropwing (Trithemis festiva). One of many dragons (and other nice wildlife) seen this morning in Greece 🇬🇷

Mirror mirror on the wall (or wing) who's the fairest frit of them all? The Queen of Spain Fritillary (Issoria lathonia) is surely up there! This one was photographed in Spain by Peter Eeles @ukbutterflies.bsky.social #Leptember

Two stages of life of a Caucasian Spotted Fritillary (Melitaea interrupta) in Türkiye. Both photos taken on one of our butterfly tours. Imago by guest Regine H and caterpillar by tour leader Ben Greenaway. #Leptember

Is it Fritillary Thursday? If not let's make it so, here's one of the biggest & most beautiful in Europe, the Cardinal Fritillary (Argynnis pandora). This one was taken in Northern Greece on one of our tours. Now it's time for you to get your frits out & share for #Leptember!

Good morning from Greece 🇬🇷 First shot from my new camera. I have some learning to do, but am optimistic it’ll work well 🤞🏼

🚨NEW TOUR! We're delighted to launch a new version of our spring tour next May to the Apennines in Italy, visiting both Sibillini & Abruzzo! It will be packed with botany, butterflies, & much more. A number of features also make this a truly exclusive & unique tour...

‘Golden Boy’ Lesser Fiery Copper (Lycaena thersamon). A male aloft a territorial lookout perch. #Leptember

'Sundance' A beautifully captured male Cleopatra (Gonepteryx cleopatra) for #Leptember today. Taken on one of our Greek tours this year by guest Geraldine S.

Cleaned up the timeline thanks to muting a number of words (mostly names) & things now look much brighter! Clouded Yellow among the grey river mud seems an appropriate photo for this post!

Two for Tuesday #Leptember Eastern Rock Graylings (Hipparchia syriaca ssp. ghigii), showing some courtship behaviour in Greece 🇬🇷

Lost lives & #Lifelines for today’s #Leptember I just passed the site these photos were taken on. It’s been destroyed, all habitat scraped away down to dirt. I must be the only person in the world to even notice or lament the loss of that place & the homes for nature it provided.

Lesser 🔥y Copper (Lycaena thersamon). A fresh male in the beautiful evening sunlight of Greece 🇬🇷 #Leptember

Time for one more #Leptember post today & it’s a good one! A Zig-zag Emperor Moth from our current tour in South Africa 🇿🇦

Lang’s short-tailed Blue (Leptotes pirithous) for #Leptember A common species where I am in Greece 🇬🇷

How about some larval love for #Leptember today? We look for all life stages on our tours, such as: British Swallowtail, Norfolk UK - Julian D Fruit-piercing Moth, Ghana - Adrian Hoskins Oleander Hawkmoth, Greece - @_Matt_Berry_ Apollo, Italy - Peter Eeles Share some of your own?

Wider view…

Name that orchid…

Good morning & good week! Let's brighten up Monday morning & begin the week's #Leptember posts with this 'not so' Lesser Purple Emperor (Apatura ilia) by Greenwinger Ken E. It was seen along with 130+ other species on our Serbia tour this year.

Good morning from Greece 🇬🇷 Squacco Heron having a satisfying stretch. Lake Kerkini in June.

Goodnight from Greece 🇬🇷 🌚

Enjoy the beautiful North Norfolk coast on our leisurely autumn day of birdwatching with @wildnorfolk.bsky.social, A guaranteed departure - Sunday 28th September. Find out more & book: greenwings.co/our-holidays...

Good morning! Let it be #SwallowtailSunday for today's #Leptember posts. We'll start with this great flight sequence, taken by Greenwinger Gillian E on our inaugural tour of Serbia this summer. Share some Swallowtail shots of your own today please!

Good morning from Greece 🇬🇷 Lampides boeticus looking fine and furry for #Leptember

Sat 11th Oct 2025 2.15 pm Suffolk Branch Members' Afternoon 2025 at Earl Stonham Village Hall, IP14 5HJ Pete Eeles will be our guest speaker. He runs the UK Butterflies website & has recently published British and Irish Butterfly Rarities See suffolkutterflies.org.uk

More picture postcards from our ongoing 'flora & more' tour of The Cape Floral Kingdom in South Africa. Names in ALT. @bsbibotany.bsky.social #BSBICorporateSponsor

Little & Large for #Leptember today! Grass Jewel (Freyeria trochylus) and Two-tailed Pasha (Charaxes jasius). Smallest & largest in Europe. Both photographed in Greece, where we see them on our tours regularly. Grass Jewel by Greenwinger Mikael R Pasha by @_Matt_Berry_

We're having a great time in South Africa's Cape Floral Kingdom right now, enjoying an amazing diversity of flora & fauna. Here's the first of several picture postcard posts...species names in ALT @bsbibotany.bsky.social #BSBICorporateSponsor

5 Purple Hairsteak butterfly eggs for 5th #Leptember Looking for them on Oak trees is a fun activity to keep your Lepidoptera intake levels up during the long cold winters in northern Europe! You might call it 'streaking', but be careful not to be misunderstood! 🙃

Let’s have some LBJ love for #Leptember! Described as dull & brown, but they’re also energetic & fiery so let’s not judge on looks alone. Pigmy Skipper (Gegenes pumilio).

#Leptember is all about Lepidoptera love! Here's a home-reared Swallowtail (Papilio machaon) being held carefully by my daughter, shortly before being released into the wilds of Greece. IMO every child should rear caterpillars at least once in their life, to experience the magic of metamorphosis!

Good morning & hope you've had your breakfast! Here's a 'splat of blues' in Hungary, taken by @fishtwitcher.bsky.social Life isn't all pretty flowers & fluttering wings of beauty! Butterflies imbibe essential minerals from mud, dung, and decomposing organic matter. #Leptember

An autumn #Leptember leaf! 🍂 Not all butterflies are bold & brightly coloured, many aim to blend in with their surrounding to avoid being eaten! In doing so they've evolved some amazing & beautiful designs, such as this Coenophlebia archidona. The photo was taken in Peru by Adrian Hoskins.