Welcome to March. Given the weather this week, it’s hard to believe it’s the start of the meteorological spring! Great times are coming. But first, it’s time to look back at the winter just past. It’s was a proper winter, with significant spells of snow and frost. The coldest winter, locally at leas...

February is snowdrops month, and they make a glorious sight when seen in masses like that. They are starting to go over now, but have been excellent this year. Something to look forward to in late winter. Then we can look towards spring, which is now very close.

Great shot of the blackcap and redcap in the same picture. Your garden bird pictures are always a pleasure to see.

Despite the snow last week, and there minus double figures temperatures, it’s an autumn Christmas for us this year! As the picture, taken today, shows.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas- Nadelek Loren!

Always love your end of season collection of Walls, Trevor. The much weaker sunshine of late September and October makes them much easier to photograph.

With everything else going on as well, what a great autumn it was!

Your Clouded Yellow is in fine condition, too. What a great combination. Snow on the mountain, and a butterfly in the valley. Switzerland is a great place. As if you didn’t know!

Me too. I always find your winter updates fascinating, Guy. And at other times of year, of course. It’ll be interesting to see what sort of winter you get over there, and how it compares with ours.

Welcome to December! The start of winter. After a warm Autumn, the temperatures have certainly taken a dip. It is winter, after all! Watching the forecasts on TV this week, you would think we had never had a frost before. And, horror of horrors, some places might even get a few snow flurries! Well I...

I’d call that success!

Given the time of year, that’s a cracking selection!

Looks like you have a Common darter there Dave, and the blue one is a Migrant hawker male. These two are the last species I see every year, indeed I saw a common darter on Tuesday. Probably my last of the year.

Wow, lots of mouth watering stuff there, Ben. Thank you for posting such a comprehensive write up. Another country to add to my wish list!

We are hoping to make it.

Thanks Dave. That’s a perfect valid point, although others that were destined to over winter at the caterpillar stage might have pupated into chrysalis’s? Thanks Buggy. One of the highlights of the year, certainly. And it came so late! Although I saw some Clouded Yellows and Painted Ladies in Cornwa...

Lovely Holly Blues in particular, Dave. I don’t see many in autumn this side of London but, like you, I find they open up much better in the weak autumn sunshine than they do in the strong sun of late spring and summer.

There were still several Small Coppers at Bedfords Park on the 8th October. Here is a female. 8FC9CD60-2937-433D-A25F-F75A2341933D.jpeg And now a backlit shot of the same one. 8CFC8652-F739-44CC-8FE9-8723C2B395F5.jpeg Three Speckled Woods were seen, including this surprisingly fresh one. 3188EA9B-D1...

Thanks, Dave. She was an absolute cracker! Thanks, Trevor. Make no mistake, I was incredibly lucky! Thanks, David. Even 10 years ago, who could have imagined an October day like this, in southern England! Thanks, Wurzel. Who could have thought my best sighting of the year, and perhaps my best pictur...

Thanks everyone. The autumn butterflies, for me, have been much better than last year! Monday 3 October started cloudy, so I was in two minds about having my only trip to Sussex this year. But the forecast was for it to brighten up, and so it proved. I had a good run down to Shoreham beach, and the ...

Also, one Painted Lady at Marazion on the 1st.

One Clouded Yellow (helice) and two Painted Lady at Par, Cornwall, on the 31st, before the rain returned...

One Clouded Yellow and one Painted Lady at St. Anthony Head, Cornwall, yesterday. Unfortunately, both were blown away before I could get a picture!