Tuesday, June 28

A Small Tortoiseshell butterfly was basking on the wall in the back garden at the end of this afternoon.

Monday, June 27

On a visit to Quenington this evening, I saw 3 Red Admiral butterflies flying together. Later, I was aware of a number of butterflies quite high over my head - I believe that they were Peacock butterflies; This was about 9 o'clock in the evening.

Sunday, June 26

It was 9.15pm and I was out in the back garden giving a few of the plants some water when I realised that I had company:

Humminbird Hawkmoth

Well, it isn't the most brilliant photo of a Hummingbird Hawkmoth but at least I got a photo! Wow!

A Red Admiral butterfly stopped on one of the Hebe plants in my back garden this morning. I didn't get my camera in time.

Decided to go out in the sunshine this afternoon to look for butterflies. We went to a local Wiltshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve. There were plenty of Meadow Brown butterflies about.

Meadow Brown butterfly with snail

I particularly liked this photo of a Meadow Brown butterfly with the snail in the picture too.
There were lots of six-spot-burnet Moths around as well.

Six spot burnet moth

These are day-flying moths which are often mistaken for butterflies. Conversely, the Large Skipper butterfly gets mistaken for a moth.

Large Skipper butterfly

There were a number of Large Skipper butterflies about today. I also saw a few Ringlet butterflies.

Ringlet butterfly

Walking along the paths in the reserve, I walked straight past a Brimstone butterfly close to my feet.

Brimstone butterfly

Altogether I had a very pleasant afternoon out walking in the flower-rich meadows.

Saturday, June 18

Well, I didn't get photographs of all 10 species of butterfly that I saw at the nature reserve today. My thanks to Sue and Bob who were our guides and Chris who acted as personal chauffeur.

The best photo in my opinion is this one of a Small Copper butterfly.

Small Copper butterfly

I also like this picture of a Large Skipper butterfly.

Large Skipper butterfly

I managed to get this one poor photo of a Ringlet Butterfly. We also saw Small Heath butterflies and the first of the Meadow Brown and Marbled White butterflies, all from the Satyridae (Brown) family.

Ringlet butterfly

Large White butterflies were flying past in the distance and a Peacock butterfly was patrolling near the entrance. This site is the location for the scarce Marsh Fritillary butterfly; we saw several and I managed to get this not-too-good photo:

Marsh Fritillary butterfly

I'm hoping that the slides from my SLR camera produce a better picture! Hopefully, I'll also have Small Blue butterfly pictures on film too. I did get a digital snap of a Common Blue butterfly.

Common Blue butterfly

And just before we left, I took this photo:

Possibly a Small Blue butterfly but seemed too large...

Now I was puzzling at the time, and I'm still not sure what it is. I think that it may be an extra-large Small Blue butterfly. So butterfly lovers please click on "comments" below and add your thoughts: what are we looking at here?

The temperature today was 30 degrees and I am sunburnt even after applying factor 30 suncream!

Friday, June 17

There were several White butterflies in the garden late this morning - I don't get very excited about the Large and Small Whites. I do get excited about another visitor who flew in at lunchtime - a Hummingbird Hawkmoth; this one visited two patches of Red Valerian. They are a real delight to watch but even with a charged camera in hand, pose an almost impossible challenge to photograph.

Someone has commented that they have seen very few butterflies this year and questions whether I have found the same. Here are my thoughts: May was colder than normal (see the BBC weather website) and consequently, the garden bedding plants were behind, which may affect butterfly sightings. Also the cold weather may slow the emergence of the butterflies too. Thinking about this, I realised that I hadn't yet seen a Meadow Brown butterfly but I note that last year I saw the first one on 19 June; therefore I expect to see one soon! Perhaps we could use the Meadow Brown butterfly as a marker? Butterflies need warm, sunny weather and the recent grey, overcast skies have meant that I haven't seen anything exciting in the last few days (until today's Hummingbird Hawkmoth). I must add that June is not the month to stay at home in your garden; get out into the countryside because that's where the butterflies are this month. Pop into your local Tourist Information Centre and find out what events your local Wildlife Trust, Butterfly Conservation Branch and other nature groups have organised. I'm crossing my fingers for good weather tomorrow when I hope to visit a Gloucestershire nature reserve...

Friday, June 10

I've been away for a couple of days. Yesterday, I visited Flag Fen near Peterborough, where I spotted a Small Tortoiseshell along with several Whites.

Small Tortoiseshell butterfly

Later that same day, I went to Grimes Graves near Thetford. I saw 3 Common Blue butterflies chasing one another as I walked across the car park. Common Blue and Small Heath butterflies were plentiful.

Common Blue butterfly
Small Heath butterfly

I also saw a couple of small brown butterflies, possibly Dingy Skippers but I'm not sure, and in the distance a Brimstone butterfly.
I did manage to get a photograph of one of the Cinnabar Moths at Grimes Graves; these are day-flying moths often mistaken for butterflies.

Cinnabar Moth

At this time of year, you will see more butterflies out in the countryside than in the garden. However, my husband reports a blue in my garden today - possibly a Common Blue butterfly.

Sunday, June 5

June is the month to get out into the countryside to see butterflies. Yesterday, we went on a guided walk around Blakehill Farm led by Paul Darby; this morning, we visited Clattinger Farm where our guide was Martin Buckland. Both reserves belong to the Wiltshire Wildlife trust.

Yesterday there was a strong wind with the threat of rain - not a day for butterfly spotting. Today was slightly better. Another photographer had found a Common Blue butterfly on Yellow Rattle.

Common Blue butterfly
I found an interesting moth - the Forester. A few paces later I came across another one.

Forester Moth
Forester moth

Finally, near the end of the walk, I saw a couple of Speckled Wood butterflies.

Speckled Wood butterfly