4th full day of @mariposanature.bsky.social Spanish Pyrenees holiday with increasing heat & numerous butterflies, especially puddling Blues & Skippers. The highlight was the Mountain Alcon Blues laying eggs on Gentians - easy to find as they’re white. A brief fly-by of Apollo but not for stopping!

We went up high to escape the heat on the 3rd full day of the @mariposanature.bsky.social Spanish Pyrenees holiday. Lots of Piedmont Ringlets, Blue Spot Hairstreaks & Glandon Blues. Lovely views, flowers & this beast of a male Rhinoceros Beetle from the morning moth trap.

Another very hot day visiting one of the deserted villages on the 2nd full day of the @mariposanature.bsky.social Spanish Pyrenees holiday. Lots of Arbutus trees but only fleeting views for some of Two Tailed Pasha. Many other butterflies & dramatic geology.

First full day of @mariposanature.bsky.social holiday in the Spanish Pyrenees. Lovely base at Casa Sarasa with 57 species in one & a bit days. Fantastic scenery & abundance of butterflies in the meadows.

Quite a few 2nd generation Commas (13) & first Meadow Browns on our transect at Priory Park this morning. Also a few faded Painted Ladies & a nest of Peacock caterpillars. Only 3 Whites but a couple of Common Blues @ukbms.bsky.social @bcbedsnorthants.bsky.social

12 species on transect at Priory Park including a Green Hairstreak which is new for the transect. 24 Painted Ladies so it will be interesting to see if they lay eggs on the Thistles. Also Common Blue, Brown Argus, Brimstone & a few Speckled Woods. @ukbms.bsky.social @bcbedsnorthants.bsky.social

Well, we planted the Mulleins for the Mullein moths & they are now busy munching their way through the leaves & flower spikes - I hope they leave some flowers! @bcbedsnorthants.bsky.social

Incombe Hole & Steps Hill were very hot & we weren’t sure we’d find the Marsh Fritillaries but eventually found 3. Also lots of Dingy Skippers, a few Green Hairstreak, lots of Common Blues, a few Duke of Burgundy & these Grizzled Skippers in cop @upperthames.bsky.social

Trip to Kensworth Quarry in the heat today & found 2 Duke of Burgundy & lots of Small Blues, also a female Brimstone flying around a Buckthorn bush & lots of Common Blues @bcbedsnorthants.bsky.social

Danube Clouded Yellow, one of Europe's most threatened butterfly species. A privilege to see on the @mariposanature.bsky.social holiday to Romania.

britainsfavouritebutterfly.co.uk/butterfly/sw... Swallowtail

Today is the start of week six of UKBMS butterfly transects. Thousands of volunteers go out each week to walk a butterfly transect and contribute data to a fifty year-long dataset. Want to get involved..? Visit our website for all the info - ukbms.org

Our latest branch newsletter is now available, and can be viewed on our website (link in bio). We are looking for enthusiasts from Bedfordshire to get more involved in our next issue. Contact us for more info! #butterflyconservation #ukbutterflies #bcbedsnorthants #savebutterflies

Good numbers of butterflies at Pegsdon despite the strong breeze - lots of Dingy Skipper, Brimstones, Green Hairstreaks & our first Small Coppers of the season. Also Holly Blue, Orange Tip & Speckled Wood @bcbedsnorthants.bsky.social @wildlifebcn.org

An exciting opportunity for someone in Beds or Northants who has experience with numbers/finance. Full details in pics! Contact us via links in bio to discuss further.

NEW REPORT: Today we publish Unprotected Nature, a report revealing Natural England's failure to designate any new protected sites. Read about it in the Guardian here: www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Lovely sunny day for a walk around Bison Hill Whipsnade & we weren’t disappointed. 4 Green Hairstreaks, 3 Duke of Burgundy & 3 Grizzled Skippers plus numerous Brimstones including this very fat female egg-laying on Buckthorn. @bcbedsnorthants.bsky.social @midsandeastnt.bsky.social

Butterfly transect today at Priory Park Bedford with 42 butterflies of 7 species. Lots of Green-veined Whites & a pair of Small Whites. Orange tip egg on Garlic Mustard & moth caterpillars feeding on Hawthorn, Agriopis species, possibly Dotted Border? @bcbedsnorthants.bsky.social @ukbms.bsky.social

Our online meeting today with butterfly monitoring coordinators revealed that most EU Member States still have not decided whether to use the Grassland Butterfly Index, and many are consulting with citizens. Now is your chance to urge them to help pollinators and choose this unique insect indicator

Large tortoiseshell butterfly confirmed no longer extinct in UK

We have a new blog on our efforts to save one of Europe's most threatened butterflies: the Nevada Grayling (Pseudochazara williamsi), found in just a few locations in southern Spain. www.bc-europe.eu/webpage.php?...

Monarch butterflies could disappear. Butterfly Town USA is scrambling to save them

We've not made a big song and dance about it, but throughout this past year we've donated funds to support @europebutterfly.bsky.social's invaluable work after every single butterfly tour we've run. We were the first wildlife tour company to commit to do so, and we're with them going forwards.

The European Butterfly Monitoring Scheme is growing fast thanks to some funding from the EU. We now have transects in nearly every European country. This is a powerful dataset to assess the health of our environment and improve biodiversity conservation

1. Some good news at last. This week’s column is about the amazing thing a couple of us stumbled into three years ago, which we’ve now developed into a global research programme. It doesn’t change everything, of course, but it could help change quite a lot. + 🧵 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Sunday book review: The Birds of Bedfordshire by Tony Ploszajski Review: markavery.info/2025/11/09/s... Publisher: Beds Nat Hist Soc 'Excellent' The last Northants avifauna is 130 years out of date... #bedfordshire #birds @wildlifebcn.org #Sandy #TheLodge @rspb.bsky.social @steveblain.bsky.social

We have added two new pages to our website: habitat management principles for butterflies (and other pollinators) and causes of decline. Check them out here www.bc-europe.eu/webpage.php?...

We're thrilled to share this film featuring some of the dedicated volunteers who monitor butterflies for the UKBMS A huge thank you to them, and everyone who's supported the scheme over the last 50 years. #UKBMS50 youtu.be/OrF5AgseX1U?...

The Hon Mr Justice Fordham has released his written judgement about why he dismissed Natural England's attempt to increase our costs cap for our legal challenge against Badger cull licences 🦡⚖️ A v important judgement for all environmental groups! Details 🔽 wildjustice.org.uk/badgers/high...

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?...

Fade to grey: as forests are cut down, butterflies are losing their colours

Check out our new website, packed with new features, including updated project and EU policy pages + butterfly species pages with all known hostplants courtesy of Harry Clarke and downloadable country lists. Big thanks to Peter Eeles @ukbutterflies.bsky.social for all his help www.bc-europe.eu

BBC News - Rare butterfly spotted near Newcastle for first time since 1850 - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

You can be part of the solution 🤝 Find out more about the Declaration on our website: www.bumblebeeconservation.org/news/declara... 📢 Please share this thread to help build momentum! 5/5

A warm welcome to the Pollinator Academy which is hosting all types of training materials to learn about European pollinators, including our training materials to identify and monitor European butterflies

Disease-resilient trees improve butterfly habitats www.bbc.com/news/article...

Happily Northants and Beds branch @savebutterflies.bsky.social have liased with the landowner of the Herbal Ley at Old and now it won't be cut until the butterflies have completed this life cycle. And some will be left uncut as an extra insurance. :-).

BBC News - Butterfly from Southern Europe spotted in UK for first time - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Monarch butterflies’ mass die off in 2024 caused by pesticide exposure – study

Did u know? Another excellent plant to have for small souls is Wild Marjoram (Origanum vulgare).Pollinators love the composite flowers, so they don't have to travel far to get lots of forage & apparently, it has the best quality nectar of any plant in the UK. A real win-win then..Go, grow! 🌿🌱🇬🇧🌱🌍🐝🪲🪰🦋

No more Beewashing please! Why beekeeping doesn't help conserve bees. Pls RT if you agree. youtu.be/fiBYBmlKSYU

Some tips on how to make your garden more butterfly-friendly: youtu.be/zNrB8xr_yA4