We very nearly met up at that oedippus site yesterday, as we were unexpectedly detained in Grenoble and my wife suggested a visit (we have repeatedly failed to find the insect here before). I hadn't slept for 36 hours, though, and was too exhausted to contemplate chasing butterflies around marshland...

Thanks Guy. I hadn't realised they ate violets. There were plenty of those about, in flower too, but little or no sign of the plantain. In British terms it is late April in the valley bottoms, with orange tips, green hairstreak and PBF about.

Best place I know for this species is the area around the refuge about 2km before Col Agnel. There are heaps of foodplant in this area, especially by the stream that runs past the refuge. 0.FrHabitat5(1).jpg I was at this spot earlier today. The Queyras has been having western Britain's usual weath...

Surely the sheer number and widespread distribution of the butterflies being released must make it the work of more than one person? The amount of devil's bit scabious/hawthorn/whatever involved must be prohibitive, for a start.

Small Blue in the garden here Somerset today; also Common and Holly Blues. The second time we have had the butterfly here; they breed a few miles away.

For reasons of global pandemic and shifting work patterns, today was my first opportunity since 2019 to visit the Dingy Skipper colony in the quarry on Bathampton Down. The sun was a bit too intermittent to truly bring out the butterflies, but it did not prevent a delightfully psychotic battle betwe...

That baeticus is on its hostplant, Marrubium vulgare, which I think you get on parts of Gower.

This is a larval web of the Brown-tail moth. The long hairs on the larvae can give nasty allergic reactions, so you would do well to stay well clear of them.

Brimstones and Cleopatras always seem to be numerous here. Unlike in Britain, they actually seem to stop moving from time to time so they can nectar, almost always to the little blue-purple Aphyllanthes monspeliensis . P1020721.jpg There were a surprising number of Bath Whites about - this is a spec...

Peacocks and Orange-tips chasing in the fields today. The Peacocks are in remarkably good condition for the start of May.

Good to get away to northern Var for a few days and escape the miserable April weather here. It looks like a late spring there too, but at least there was enough warmth and sun for butterflies to be out and about in numbers. When the first one you stumble across is a Nettle-tree, things are good: P1...

The Orange-tips are back!

Thanks folks! Both sites will in fact be really convenient!

Exmouth area, 3 April. Several searching male Brimstones and a single Samll Tortoiseshell flying around nettles. Watched the sallow for Large Tortoiseshell, without success. Still yet to see Peacock this year.

Thanks Pete. I'll give it a go!

I will be in the right area for this species, but too early in the year for the adult. Is anyone familiar with the needs of the larva - aspect, shelter, need for bare ground etc?

Ile de Ré (3) - the others There were quite a few migrants around - most commonly Clouded Yellows, but also Vestal moths and a Lang's Short tailed Blue. P1010443.jpg P1010570.jpg P1010455.jpg This was the time when the Long-tailed Blues were congregating on Worthing beach. There were a few around h...

Hope you enjoy Spain! Things may be a bit different after the massive forest fires on the hills last summer, and I hope the butterflies haven't been too seriously impacted.

The bumblebees work the foxglove flowers from the bottom to the top, then fly down to start at the bottom of the next plant.

They are back! Small Tortoiseshell today nectaring on winter-flowering heather for prolonged periods, interrupted by short flights and periods of basking. P1020385.jpg A male and a female Brimstone through the garden as well. Neither has quite got the hang yet of being a Brimstone in springtime. We ...