Tour update 🚨 Things move fast around here! Our Butterflies of the Hautes Pyrenees tour is now fully booked. We can't wait to share outstanding alpine ringlets, and other butterflies, with our guests next year, and to make our donation to support @europebutterfly.bsky.social's invaluable work.

Behalve bilateraal gynandromorfen heb je ook mozaiek gynandromorfen, waarbij vrouwelijke en mannelijke kenmerken als patchwork ineen gestrengeld zijn. Deze keizersmantel uit Z-Frankrijk bv, oranje delen zijn mannelijk, grijze delen vrouwelijk (in dit geval was gedrag overigens eerder mannelijk).

Day 7 of our #AdventCalendar, and we've a new tour to announce with these two heavyweight European alpine rarities - Rätzer's & Yellow-banded Ringlet. Butterflies of the Italian & Swiss Alps is already fully booked - we'll announce 2028 dates later next year. #NaturePhotography

Bonsoir, Paris!

Back in civilisation to play a couple of shows with the Swell Maps ...

Day 5 of our #AdventCalendar takes us to Hungary, where we saw four Phengaris large blue species in the space of a wonderful week this summer - Large, Scarce Large, Dusky Large, and Alcon Blue. Like all our butterfly tours, this one generated a donation to support @europebutterfly.bsky.social.

Thursday is the new Friday. 🍸 And a new Cocktail is in the mix - Aperol Gin Sour. It’s not without its merits

After a few days of poor weather in Malaga province, this afternoon just about warmed up sufficiently to tempt Spanish festoon Zerynthia rumina to bask in the sun

Ghosts of Dylan, Guthrie, Phil Ochs, Joni Mitchell and Richard and Mimi Farina haunt this excellent, thoroughly modern protest folk LP – highly recommended! haleyheynderickxmaxgarciaconover.bandcamp.com/album/what-o...

French friends! I'm playing guitar with Swell Maps in Lorient, Brittany on Friday 5/11 and in Paris on Saturday 6/11 – both shows are opening for The Chameleons! Come along! www.fnacspectacles.com/en/event/the... www.songkick.com/concerts/426...

You should definitely follow Sophie, she is an absolutely incredible artist and conservationist.

Female Meleager's Blue (Polyommatus daphnis, getand blauwtje) are really beautiful butterflies. In S and SE Europe they are widespread, in C Europe local.

Interesting variation in the amount of red markings on Spanish Festoon Zerynthia rumina in Southern Spain. The upper wing base colour can also vary from pale to a deep rich yellow.

Out on the Local Patch, walked along the Rio Genil near Huétor Tajar in Granada Province this morning. Pleased with a female Lesser-spotted Woodpecker, I picked it up as it was calling, and then she spent sometime moving around in dead trees next to the road. More on my blog, search lojawildlife

I sat in the car for a couple of hours by a puddle up on Cerro Hacho, near Loja this morning. Here are a few of the visitors that came in for a drink or a bath. More photo's soon on blog at lojawildlife

On this day 40 years ago: Managed to see, and ☑️ the 1st winter male Pied Wheatear, in the last glimmers of light, at Sheringham. At the time just the 10th record for the U.K. Now pretty much expected as a late year finale to the years roll call of rarities. #rarebirdsuk

I have to admit that when I was scraping the frost off the car window this morning in London , I didn’t expect to see these on the river wall at Rainham.

I was live on the radio yesterday on the deXter Bentley Hello GoodBye Show on Resonance 104.4 FM (London) and Pawarota Radio (Poland), playing four new songs being recorded for the next LP – it starts about 44 mins in, but the whole show is worth an ear: www.mixcloud.com/.../the-hell...

If you're near a laptop or digital radio tomorrow, I'll be playing a few songs live and being interviewed on the mighty Resonance 104.4fm at 12.30 on DeXter Bentley's The Hello Goobye Show. Your chance to hear brand-spanking-new tunes before they're recorded! www.resonancefm.com/programmes/5...

Remarkable temperature in London today. Could this be my last UK butterfly this year ? It’s turning colder.

Am seriously excited at the prospect of joining my @mariposanature.bsky.social co-leader, János Oláh, in August 2026 for the Romania Mammal tour operated by his superb company, Saker Tour. A few places remain available to join us... sakertour.com/mammal-watch...

Ophrys ortuabis is a lovely endemic #orchid we'll see on our Orchids of Sardinia tour next April. Discovered as recently as 2002 by by Lucia Manca & Nino Mura, a couple from the town of Oristano, their story is told in 'Ortuabis', a short film by Vincenzo Rodi: (1/2) youtube.com/watch?v=oQSo...

Violet Copper is just one of the highlights guests on our Spring Butterflies of the French Pyrenees can look forward to seeing. These glorious images were kindly shared with us by one of our regular guests, Clive B. We love seeing our guests' photos, and hope you do too. #eastcoastkin #butterflies

On my latest Alpine trip I took the time to make some more pictures of a few widespread mountain species, like these Aricia artaxerxes and Erebia melampus. More #butterfly pictures of this trip on my flickr page: flic.kr/s/aHBqjCyeci

Still some end of season colour in Malaga with Z.Rumina and P.Machaon. M.Proto was added to the list of quality skippers seen over the last three days.

Another great day in Tarifa enjoying the specialities the area holds with @lojawildlife.bsky.social . Spent the day trying to outwit the skippers. B. Borbonica, G. Nostradamus, C. Tripolinus, D. Chrysippus

In the new European butterfly Red List, 8 sp are threatened in Scandinavian tundra where the climate crisis is causing warmer + drier conditions that allows scrub to spread on sensitive bog and open habitats. eg Agriades aquilo; Boloria freija; Euphydryas iduna. www.bc-europe.eu/webpage.php?...

I’m out in my own wild rock garden in Greece 🇬🇷 📱 Colchicum macrophyllum

A nice day in Tarifa, Spain today with @lojawildlife.bsky.social . C. Tripolinus , B.Borbonica, D.Chrysippus, and D.Plexippus were in reasonable numbers. Not the prize we hoped for but still two days surveying to come

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?...

Today sees the launch of a report & full update of the IUCN European Red List of Butterflies. Find out more on the @europebutterfly.bsky.social website: www.bc-europe.eu/webpage.php?... Some facts & figures are also below + 3 species of conservation concern, critically endangered - vulnerable.

"If I were to set out to create my perfect butterfly tour then this would be it" "I have never personally seen so many butterflies in such a short time" "An absolutely fabulous experience" Wonderful guest feedback for Butterflies of the Italian Alps & French Mercantour! (1/2) #butterflies

It is just a little before midnight here in #Estonia for the start of the @oriolebirding.bsky.social autumn tour. It is absolutely black outside as the moon has already set and a Tawny Owl is calling The merging of day into night from the plane was breath-taking. We head out at 0700...

It would be very disappointing if the German government do not adopt the Grassland Butterfly Indicator just because it is going down. They should be taking up the challenge of reversing the decline of pollinators not ignoring this crucial issue to humanity

The ultimate Greenwings butterfly! Wonderful artwork by Richard & great to see the size comparison with the Swallowtail too.

13 species of butterfly along a 100mtr stretch of the Thames sea wall at Rainham today on the last day of September. That’s around 25% of the UK list. A nice end to my UK butterflying season.

#Southernsmallwhite - Pieris mannii - is still active in my area E of #Ghent, Belgium. This one was in the garden yesterday. It is a typical autumn female; lots of dusting between discal and apical spot, discal spot not confined by the veins and a vague discal spot on hindwing. #urbanbiodiversity

Another date for my insomniac friends to note - I'll be giving a talk entitled "Fabulous February - Birding in SW Andalucia in Winter" at Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory this Thursday (25/09) at 19.00 🪶

#FallFriday The Fall - What About Us? youtu.be/_godSE6RJy0?...

The smallest patch of nectar held five species including P Celina and A Cramera for comparison. Also a pod of 30 presumably Bottle nosed dolphins off Malaga beach. First dolphins I have seen from shore since lockdown. Too many jet skis now .

Few species on the wing in Malaga after a furnace summer. M. Proto one of the few tough enough to survive the dry conditions

Attention Bristol area people!

M. Proto Western sage skipper distribution along with Southern and eastern Sage skipper .

Nettle tree butterfly, Black wheatear, and Western sage skipper M . Proto. Recently split into three species , Sage skipper becomes Western , here in Spain and France , Eastern from Turkey eastwards, and Southern in Greece and the islands.

Beautiful fresh Z.Knysna in the garden. A tiny North African species with a foothold on the Iberian peninsula

Of all the skippers I see in Spain , P Nostradamus is the one I see the least. Rarely do they sit long enough to image so when this individual landed in front of me today I grabbed the opportunity. H. Fidia , on the other hand, were everywhere. This couple were laying the foundations for next year.

A really technical challenge, common blue wide-angle flight sequence in our local meadow @bbcspringwatch.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social @omsystem.bsky.social

Looking at some butterfly pics and trying to decide if this Clouded Yellow is anything other than the 'main' species, C. croceus. Pont d'Ael, Aosta Valley, Italy. #Butterflies #Invertebrates

Here's a heads up that I've now got a monthly 4-page column in Bird Watching magazine, neatly tieing in with my own plans to reach a comfortable 200 species in the South East this year. The latest is just out and available in bigger newsagents:

I'll be closing off my weekend of gigs in a couple of weeks with a FREE SHOW at Knowle Constitutional Club in Bristol on Sunday 21 September. You know you want to come! allevents.in/bristol/kand...