Just about to drive off to work this morning when I looked up at the Buddleia in my front garden to see my first Painted Lady of 2012: IMG_1633.JPG IMG_1645.JPG IMG_1648.JPG IMG_1649.JPG IMG_1653.JPG Wonderful! I sure am glad I planted that bush! Also joining the Lady were three Red Admirals and two...

This morning I visited Dungeness for a wander around the Nuclear Power Station perimeter fence. The first butterfly that I came across was a Small White and then this Common Blue: IMG_1613.JPG The blues were in good numbers throughout the site. I also saw 9 Red Admirals, mostly fly-pasts, but some l...

I went back to Lydden NR this morning, the hillside covered in dancing butterflies and a wealth of gorgeous wild flowers. There were many more Silver Spotted Skippers than last week: IMG_1588.JPG IMG_1382.JPG IMG_1590.JPG And Adonis Blues were back again in good numbers: IMG_1404.JPG IMG_1402.JPG Se...

I've done well for butterflies in my garden today seeing 4 Peacocks, 2 Red Admirals P1010817.JPG P1010786.JPG 2 Small Tortoiseshells P1010797.JPG A Speckled Wood P1010777.JPG And then I saw this female Holly blue P1010811.JPG being closely observed by this chap P1010812.JPG He made his advances but ...

A Holly Blue visited my garden at about 7am today: IMG_1275.JPG And before I left home at 8.30 I'd also had three Peacocks drop in too. I decided to go to near-by Wye Nature Reserve before it got too hot for Hoggers, in search of Wall. I walked along to the Crown and found three: IMG_1320.JPG IMG_13...

It really is extraordinary Pauline but these last few days I've had them in my garden, on my dog walk ,seemingly all over. Wonderful to see ! I hope you catch up with one soon: I've seen the photographs you take and if anyone can do this butterfly justice it's you!

Here's a Small Tortoiseshell that brightened up my lunch break today :

I think I've seen more Small Tortoiseshells in the last week than I did throughout the whole of 2011; this one is being admired by my dog who you can just make out through the vegetation : P1010737.JPG It's very much the butterfly of my childhood when they were very common. I'm sad to say that I'd a...

Three Small Tortoiseshells in my garden this afternoon: a Bumper Crop!

This morning I had a couple of hours at Folkestone Warren. The first butterfly that I came across was a Marbled White enjoying a day at the beach IMG_1222.JPG There were many Gatekeepers IMG_1228.JPG And I was delighted to see so many Common Blues ( around 30, all males ): IMG_1234.JPG IMG_1236.JPG ...

This morning I went back to Lydden Nature Reserve to see if any Silver Spotted Skippers had appeared since my previous visit last Saturday ( it's one of the few members of the Skipper Tribe that I am able to identify with any degree of confidence..) My luck was in and I quickly had one buzzing past ...

Peacocks have made a welcome return: I've seen four today And Twelve Brown Argus

On my morning walk with the dog P1010657.JPG we came across eight Brown Argus P1010625.JPG P1010613.JPG A Red Admiral P1010629.JPG And what I think is a Small Skipper ( I'll post two views for our Forum Experts!) P1010637.JPG P1010644.JPG There were also 3 Green-veined Whites, a Speckled Wood, a Com...

A most welcome visitor to my garden this afternoon: stayed just long enough for me to fetch my camera and get a photograph

I popped into Lydden NR at Temple Ewell this afternoon to see the Chalkhill Blues - there were hundreds! Marvellous!

Cheers David - much appreciated

Guys,, I think I've mis-identified the butterfly I thought was a High Brown at Heddon's Mouth: the more I look at it the more I think it's a Dark Green - can anybody out there confirm it one way or the other?

Hoggers' Holiday Snaps : I stopped in at Bookham Common on 24th: lots of Silver washed Fritillaries IMG_0803.JPG IMG_0797.JPG I also saw a few White Admirals,Purple Hairstreaks and around 5 Purple Emperor IMG_0812.JPG At Heddon's Mouth on 25th there were many Silver Washed Fritillaries IMG_0815.JPG ...

I'm posting this from Heddon's Gate Hotel as this is the start of Hoggers' Holiday in North Devon! I'm here to do a spot of High Brown Hunting. Arrived early evening yesterday so too late to see anything here but High Browns have been seen recently ( so I'm told ) and the weather is smiling on me al...

I went back to Orlestone this afternoon to see the White Admirals: IMG_0769.JPG IMG_0780.JPG IMG_0716.JPG IMG_0737.JPG Some 12 in all, most rather worn but a few still unbattered. Then a Purple Hairstreak fluttered down on the track to take on minerals IMG_0745.JPG IMG_0749.JPG Before flying back up...