[/b]9th-16th August 2014[/b] For the second week of our holiday we moved South to the Var region, staying in a holiday home in the hills. Almost as soon as we arrived I saw Purple Hairstreaks in the low oaks around the property, but despite frequent searches all week I rarely saw them within camera ...

Many thanks for the PMs with clear directions. Now I just need to hope for good weather and patient family!

3-9th August 2014 The first week of our holiday in France staying in La Clusaz, near Annecy. As it was a family activity holiday I generally didn't have time to look of butterflies, or have a camera on me, but there were a couple of opportunities. Corrections of any id's would be greatly appreciate...

I might find myself at Noar Hill on Monday or Tuesday. Can anyone direct me to where specifically I should go to look for Brown Hairstreaks? I'm fairly familiar with Noar Hill, but don't know where on the site the BHs are typically seen. I realise it's not a strong site for them, so don't rate my ch...

What IS relevant is the size of the actual pixels, the bigger they are, the more information (less noise, etc) they are able to record; hence DSLRs with large sensors are bound in the ultimate test to produce better images. You're conflating two things there. Pixel density is indeed a good measure,...

Lovely Brown Hairstreak images - a species I've yet to see and will probably miss for yet another year. As I got into my car after photographing Clouded Yellows today, I turned on the radio and heard news of Brown Hairstreaks in the village of Ambridge in Borsetshire. I couldn't find it on the sites...

Thursday 31st July 2014 Having read of Clouded Yellows in nearby Cherry Hinton East Pit, I decided to pop in on the way to work. 8:30am it was sunny and warm, but there wasn't a lot of butterfly activity apart from a few male Common Blues. As I headed back towards the car around 9am, I 'white' with...

Is this a CY helice? Although it looks pretty yellow here, in flight it looked white, with black borders. I couldn't get an open-wing shot, but hoped the backlit shot might help. Taken around 9am this morning near Cambridge, so from the location alone, I guess that pretty much assures it's CY not Pa...

This poor chap was on my buddleia at the weekend - unfortunately high up so I couldn't get a steady shot of it. Amazing that it could still fly!

Sunday 27th July 2014 I took a late afternoon trip back to Therfield Heath, Herts. The Dark Green Fritillaries were all gone, and the grass around the car park was disappointingly devoid of butterflies apart from the odd Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown. This time last year, the place was alive with Cha...

A sighting from the 17th near Colchester with good photos has just been added http://www.cambs-essex-butterflies.org.uk/sightings.php

Photos also at http://www.cambs-essex-butterflies.org.uk/photos_2014.php

Saturday 12th July 2014 No Common Blues or Brown Arguses though, despite the conditions seeming ideal for them, which seems to be the trend for this year for me. Today at my local nature reserve there were plenty (>15) of Common Blues, which is a nice turnaround. All male, plus one probable Brown A...

Saturday 19th July 2014
I was at Latitude festival near Southwold, just down the road from Minsmere, so keeping an eye out for Scarce Tortoiseshell No such luck of course, but I did see my first Small Copper of the year braving one of the campsites.

Peacock explosion in my South Cambs garden this morning. About 15 on my buddleia, plus a few Small Tortoiseshells in various states and a couple of pristine Red Admirals. Beautiful!

I think it's just two mating, one freshly emerged from the pupa. The third black blob is just the remains of the pupal casing

Layer de la Haye (Essex) Could you point me at the Layer de la Haye report? At Cambs-Essex BC we had a report yesterday of a Large Tortoiseshell in a member's garden there. I suggested to him it may have been Yellow-legged, so I'd like to know if the YLT report is from the same chap, or if not I ca...

Layer de la Haye (Essex) Could you point me at the Layer de la Haye report? At Cambs-Essex BC we had a report yesterday of a Large Tortoiseshell in a member's garden there. I suggested to him it may have been Yellow-legged, so I'd like to know if the YLT report is from the same chap, or if not I ca...

Amazing aberration - hard to believe it's the same species.

Saturday 12th July 2014 We took a walk in the hot humid afternoon around the villages of East Hatley and Hatley St George, South Cambridgeshire arable farmland with good field margins and some large hay / flower meadows. Butterflies were abundant, which is always a delight to see. Nothing particula...

Great picture. Looks like it was made in a jelly mould