On the last full day of my holiday (Tuesday 11th June), I met up with Gyorgy Liptovszky again. He collected me from Nyon station and we headed into Geneva to drop his wife off at the United Nations. There are some amazing road tunnels under Geneva, even at the outskirts. Unfortunately the weather tu...

On the sixth day of my holiday (Monday, 10th June) I set off in the pouring rain from Brig. The railway runs beside Lake Geneva for the first time at Montreux, looking down the lake there was blue sky at the far end. By the time I reached Geneva it was sunny - the second best butterfly day of my hol...

On the next three days of my holiday there didn't appear to be any butterfly weather, so I was on the train, taking photos at various places. On the fifth day of my holiday (Sunday 9th June) I did visit Leuk because it warmed up and there was some sunshine. At Leuk I found a Comma and several Small ...

Thanks Pete - adds another species to my very short list! On the second day of my holiday - Thursday June 6th - I met up with Gyorgy Liptovszky again to visit the Cardinal site near Martigny. He picked me up at Martigny railway station and kindly drove us over to the site. Last time we visited in 20...

I have returned from my first trip to Switzerland this year. The weather was not very good, considering it is early June. I now have Covid for my troubles - probably caught on the overcrowded Northern tube line in London. On the first day of my trip (Wednesday 5th June) I arrived at my hotel just af...

If you would like a site near to Zurich, you could try Erdmannlistein - take the train to Dietikon, then the local train to Wohlen - Erdmannlistein is a wooded area past Bremgarten. I think you are most likely to see UK typical species such as Orange Tip, Brimstone, Speckled Wood. A better idea if y...

European Butterflies Magazine Issue Seven, Spring 2024 is now printed. I will send copies to Pemberley Books this week, so they will have theirs soon. To order direct from me it is £10.00 including postage. I attach some sample pages. There are articles about Bulgaria, Corfu, France, Greece, South A...

European Butterflies Magazine Issue Seven Spring 2024 is now published.

Please see the European Butterflies Magazine diary in the Overseas section for more details.

I have the first proof of the magazine now.

There are still some changes to make before I can approve printing.

I hope to print in early March - I will post here when ready.

This is the scan of the front cover.

Dan Danahar has written an interesting article about the wildfires in Corfu. Corfu Butterfly Conservation is going to follow the rebirth of the burnt areas and the recovery of butterfly species. Some butterfly populations are of concern such as the Eastern Orange Tip and the Tree Grayling. Other mor...

Mario Langourov has contributed an article about the Scarce Butterflies in Bulgaria tour that Wild Echo Tours run. There are some rare butterflies to be seen such as Large Chequered and Tessellated Skippers and Scarce and Twin-spot Fritillaries. More common butterflies include Eastern Festoon, Eros ...

Scott Richardson has written an article introducing the butterflies of his farm in South Africa. OK, so South Africa is not in Europe - but the magazine has previously covered butterflies in Russia, Armenia, Turkey and Morocco - also not in Europe. The magazine is not evolving into World Butterflies...

David Moore has contributed an article about the butterflies of Central and Northern Spain in late April. This is the third article about Spain for the magazine - so if you like Spain, this issue is especially for you. David describes finding key species such as the Sooty Orange Tip, Western Dappled...

I am fortunate in that during the year some of my correspondents send me their photos. This year John Williams sent me photos of Poplar Admiral seen at Chatelard in Switzerland in June - see previous post. However, he went one better in France photographing this Poplar Admiral - the more powerful wh...

John Needham has continued his description of the butterflies in the French Pyrenees where he lives. He has very helpfully tried to fill in some of the gaps in photographs in the magazine of particular species. Large Blue and Rock Grayling have been absent, although they have been mentioned in artic...

Pete Smith has written about his trip to Northern Greece in June this year. There are many 'eastern' species to be seen such as Grecian Copper and Lesser Fiery Copper. More familiar species such as Small Copper, Sloe Hairstreak and Queen of Spain Fritillary are to be found. Key rare species include ...

Alvaro Peral has contributed an article about the butterflies of the Sierra Nevada in Spain. He runs the travel company WildAndalusia that offers mainly birding holidays but also one butterfly holiday. They also run very usefully one day trips for butterflies - so if you are in the region but don't ...

Steve Baines (a new contributor) has written the first article for the 2024 magazine about his search for Two-tailed Pasha in Spain this year. He has found not only the Two-tailed Pasha, but also some other very desirable species. These include Western Dappled White, Mother of Pearl Blue, Nettle Tre...

Yes, I would like to see Chalkhill Blues and Adonis Blues at Kiplingcotes. It is a prime site for re-stocking with butterflies - but Butterfly Conservation are so short sighted - they could work with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust at this reserve and stock up Small Heath, Small Copper, Wall Brown, Brown A...

A second visit to Kiplingcotes today. Traffic was poor - Beverley Races on a Wednesday - must remember next year. It had clouded over by the time I got there, so I did not have great hopes. However, I did manage a few butterflies, including some new for this year. There were Large Whites, Small Whit...