Just returned from a week in North Somerset. Still a lot of butterflies about mainly Red Admiral and Specked Wood. Visited Sand Point on Friday 28 October where we saw 3 Red Admiral, 2 Speckled Wood, 1 Small Tortoiseshell and more surprisingly this Small Copper.

Interestingly I saw a Duke at Gait Barrows in Lancashire on Thursday last week with a blue marking on the underside of one forewing.

Duke of Burgundy out at Gait Barrows today. 3 seen at least a week earlier than recent years.

Currently on Isle of Barra in the Hebrides 15 degrees and one small tortoiseshell seen. Possibly the furthest west butterfly in Scotland!

Thank you. I had a very good day with two fresh High Brown Fritillaries as well!

Can anyone confirm whether this is a Northern Brown Argus? The photographs were taken at Gait Barrows

Summer has arrived in the North! High Brown Frits out at Gait Barrows today.

Visited Glasdrum Wood on Monday 24 May. Initially it was overcast but as soon as the sun came out Chequered Skippers appeared. I saw 2 or 3 different individuals in about 4 different parts of the nature reserve. The best spot was just above and west of the car park under the power lines although I a...

Thanks both.

I don't know if these make the second one any easier to identify they are both the same butterfly.

As no one has expressed a view as to what these two are I have resorted to Tolman. The top one seems to be a large skipper although given the photo was taken on 11 September it may be a bit late. The other is a Mediterranean Skipper?

Can anyone identify these two skippers photographed in Tuscany last week?

Thanks Pete,

At least I got all 4 right as to whether they were High Brown or Dark Green. Need to do some more work on the difference between the sexes!!

David

Thanks everyone for this. It seems to suggest the High Browns are having a good year at Arnside. I'm interested as to how you all arrived at your conclusions. I assume its partly to do with the position of the 3 spot down from the outside edge of the forewing and also the shape of the wing? Also how...

I took all the following at Arnside Knott today. All show different individuals. I was unable to get any photos of undersides due to the wind. Can anyone say whether these are High Brown, Dark Green of a mixture?

I visited Arnside Knott on the way back from a work engagement in North Lancashire this evening. I saw a number of fritillaries which I will post of the Identification Forum to see if anyone can work out whether they are High Brown or Dark Green. (It was very windy and impossible to get shots of the...

Hi birdy43 As it happens my sons live in Porteshead so I stayed with them on the Sunday and Monday nights which meant only travelling one way to/from East Lancashire in a day. I enjoyed Sand Point particular with Roger's instructions which led straight to the Granvilles. It was very hot though tempe...

Visited Sand Point yesterday, The Glanvilles were still flying in the spot described by Roger. I saw about 6 different individuals most of which were still in very good condition. Also at Sand Point saw dozens of Paited Lady, a range of whites, speckled wood, Common Blue, Brown Argus, Small Copper a...

David, I thought I would respond to your posts and say how useful I've found your book when visiting parts of the Country I'm not familiar with. For example we visited Eyarth Rocks in Denbighshire for the first time on Saturday and without your detailed directions and map I'm not sure we would have ...

We visited Sand Point yesterday and didn't see any GFs. Plenty of other butterflies though.

David

Finally saw some butterflies in the North although it was only because we took our daughter to look at York University. On the grass bank as we walked though the main campus we saw 2 small whites, a comma, a small tortoiseshell and a Peacock. We also later saw a small tortoiseshell in the city centre!