Surprise Small blues

20 Wednesday May 2026

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British butterflies, butterfly, Cupido minimus, Dorset butterflies, Isle of Portland butterflies, Small blue, Small blue butterfly, Small blues on the Isle of Portland

I had only ever seen a Small blue butterfly (Cupido minimus) twice before my recent trip to Weymouth, the first time back in the summer of 2018 during a visit to a friend in East Sussex (see Small and blue, 27 July 2018) and the second time in 2019, during a bird club trip to Salisbury Plain (Birding on Salisbury Plain, 13 May 2019). And I hadn’t expected to see them on this recent trip but Nature played a blinder!

I was over the moon to see Small blues three days in a row, all on the Isle of Portland but all in locations where I never expected to find them. The first was on Friday 8 May in King Barrow Quarry, where I was amazed to spot three in one small area, a little colony.

The second was the following day, Saturday the 9th, in Tout Quarry, this time a single butterfly that just appeared on the path below me as if by magic.

And the third, on Sunday 10th, once again appeared as if conjured up out of thin air, this time on the grass below the National Coastwatch building near the coastal path that runs along Portland’s west cliffs.

The one time I actually went looking for Small blues, and spent two hours walking almost every small path through the Broadcroft Butterfly Reserve, where these butterflies are supposed to live, I saw none. Which only made me even more grateful to have experienced the previous three totally unexpected sightings.

Skylarks and Stonechats

19 Tuesday May 2026

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birding, birds at Wild Chesil Centre, birdwatching, British birds, juvenile Stonechat, Skylark, Stonechat

The area around the Wild Chesil Centre at Ferrybridge in Weymouth is alive with small birds in the spring and summer months. As soon as you arrive, your ears will be filled with the joyous sound of displaying Skylarks, the trills and warbles of their lengthy song flights audible even above the almost constant sound of cars passing on the busy road to the Isle of Portland. And, as this area is also busy with human traffic, the birds are more tolerant than usual of approaching people walking the tracks behind the Centre’s car park and on the opposite side of the road, along the well-vegetated edge of Hamm Beach. In fact, the colours of the Skylark pictured below blended so well with the stony path that I was almost upon the bird before it scuttled a few yards ahead of me, its close proximity providing a nice photo opportunity.

The Stonechats in this area were also a delight to watch.

Mum and Dad Stonechat (that’s the male above) were perched up on the tops of low shrubs, making their usual contact calls (like two stones being knocked together, hence their name), and, when I spotted them, I also noticed these two youngsters, sitting watching the goings on. These, presumably, were the first brood of the year, now fledged and able to fend for themselves, which means the parents will be able to move on to raising another one, possibly two more broods before the summer ends. Busy little chats!

NFY: Wall

18 Monday May 2026

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British butterflies, butterfly, Dorset butterflies, Isle of Portland butterflies, Lasiommata megera, Wall, Wall butterfly

My decision to head to Weymouth and Portland for a week from the 7th to the 14th of May was a last minute one; I had booked somewhere else but the weather there was forecast to be mostly wet so I cancelled that and headed south to Dorset instead. I hadn’t checked which butterfly species I might see there; I just knew that if it rained in Weymouth, I could always go birding.

When the Dorset weather turned out mostly dry, if not always particularly sunny, I knew I had to head to the locations on the Isle of Portland where I’ve previously found butterflies, and one of the first I saw there was the Wall (Lasiommata megera). Checking now, I see that the first generation adults usually emerge in late April – early May, so my timing was perfect.

Most of the Walls I spotted, in Tout and King Barrow quarries, at the Broadcroft Butterfly Reserve, and along the coastal path above the west cliffs, were constantly active, the majority males flying back and forth in search of females but, occasionally, one would pause long enough and close enough for me to get a few photos. These are they.

Sainfoin

17 Sunday May 2026

Posted by sconzani in flowers, plants, wildflowers

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British wildflowers, Onobrychis viciifolia, pink wildflowers, Portland wildflowers, Sainfoin, wildflowers on Portland

I had never seen this lovely plant before I spotted it at Broadcroft Butterfly Reserve on the Isle of Portland last Monday. This is Sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia).

As it was growing near some houses, I wondered, initially, if it was simply a garden escape. This proved to be partly true; according to Richard Mabey, writing in Flora Britannica, this erect form of Sainfoin was ‘introduced as a fodder plant from the continent in the middle of the seventeenth century’, and has since become widely naturalised. There is a native form which Mabey describes as ‘more or less prostrate, has deeper pink flowers and is native in grassland and bare ground on the southern chalk-hills’.

Though the Portland plants were the first sightings I remember, I’ve since checked the local biodiversity database and discovered there is a local site, a short train journey west along the south Wales coast, where I should be able to find them growing. As that is a location I haven’t been to for a while but which has other nice flora and fauna to be seen, I’m resolved to visit in the next few weeks to see if I can find Sainfoin, amongst other things.

Little tern courtship behaviour

16 Saturday May 2026

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Chesil Little Tern Project, Little tern, Little tern courtship

The only time I get to see Little terns is when I visit Weymouth, in Dorset, during late spring and summer, as these stunning little birds spend their winters in west Africa and only return to Britain between April and August to breed. Chesil Beach is the furthest south west Little terns breed in England and is home to the Chesil Little Tern Project, which aims to monitor and protect the Little tern colony during their breeding season. A temporary electric fence is erected around the breeding area, and over 60 volunteers assist RSPB staff in engaging with and educating the public about the birds, and protecting the colony from predators, people and their dogs.

I didn’t visit the breeding colony itself – I figure the fewer people who go near them the better – but the birds can be seen flying over and fishing in the waters of the Fleet lagoon from the roadside at Ferrybridge so I found a handy boulder and plonked myself down to watch. And it was fascinating!

What I saw was the Little terns’ courtship behaviour. The male bird catches a fish and flies around calling, in the hope of attracting a female; I presume the fish is his way of advertising his ability to provide for his mate and any chicks they might have. If the female likes the look of him, she will chase and fly with him before both birds descend to the beach, or, in this case, the small buoys in the water. If the female accepts the fish the male offers then the courtship has been successful, and the breeding process gets underway. Do I detect a rather smug look on the male’s face in this last photo?

NFY: Common blue

15 Friday May 2026

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British butterflies, butterfly, Common blue, Common blue butterfly

I had to go all the way to the Isle of Portland to see my first Common blue butterflies of the year!

Nah, not really. It just so happened that I didn’t spot any locally before I headed down to Dorset for another wonderful week of wildlife spotting, based in my lovely favourite guesthouse in Weymouth. I returned home yesterday, and this morning I went for a walk to my local Lavernock Nature Reserve, where I saw a couple more Common blues, despite a cool nor-westerly and not a lot of sun.

In case you’re not overly familiar with these butterflies, the one in my first photo is a male; they always have completely blue upper wings. The butterfly in my second photo is a female; they are often quite brown but this particular specimen had a lot more blue in her upper wings. And below is a side view, showing the pattern of spots on the lower wings. Distinguishing one species of blue butterfly from another can sometimes be all about recognising the patterns on the underwings.

Lekking Green long-horns

14 Thursday May 2026

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Adela reaumurella, British moths, Green long-horn, Green long-horn moths lekking, lek, lekking, Long-horn moth, moth

My Collins Concise Dictionary defines lek, the noun, as ‘a small area in which birds of certain species, notably the black grouse, gather for sexual display and courtship’, and the word can also be used as a verb, hence lekking, the activity of courtship display in that area.

The dictionary only mentions birds and, certainly, we usually think of lekking as something confined to birds, but the act of showing off in order to attract a mate is not confined to avian species; insects and, apparently, some fish, also perform mating displays.

And that’s exactly what these Green long-horn moths (Adela reaumurella) were doing when I spotted them congregating around a particular bush in an area of trees (in fact, I’ve now seen several such displays in various woodland or tree-filled locations). I’m not sure why they choose their particular spot but it seems to be a prominent position towards the top of a shrub or on a branch that sticks out from the rest of a tree, often in sunshine, and they flutter about, settle briefly on a leaf, then flutter again. The lek is a delight to watch.

Early mining bees

13 Wednesday May 2026

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Andrena bees, Andrena haemorrhoa, British bees, Early mining bee, mining bees, Orange-tailed mining bee

I’ve done it again – found some little bees so gorgeous that I simply couldn’t resist taking their photos, but this time I know their names.

These are Early mining bees (Andrena haemorrhoa), identifiable by the wonderfully furry, Fox-coloured thorax, with a complementary black abdomen and, as you might be able to see in my first photo, a fluffy little Fox-coloured bottom (which is the reason this species is also known as the Orange-tailed mining bee). This bee’s colouring is also the reason for the epithet haemorrhoa in its scientific name, as haima is the Greek word for blood and rheō is the Greek verb meaning ‘to flow’ – you have to imagine that the foxy mane and tail resemble flowing blood.

A fungus-infected ladybird

12 Tuesday May 2026

Posted by sconzani in insects, ladybird

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fungus infecting Harlequin ladybird, Harlequin, harlequin ladybird, Harlequin with fungal infection, Hesperomyces harmoniae, ladybird

This Harlequin ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) has been infected with the fungus previously known as Hesperomyces virescens, that is now known to be specific to the Harlequin so has been renamed Hesperomyces harmoniae. Hopefully, you should be able to make out the short pale-coloured stalk-like growths emerging from between the ladybird’s eyes and along its front left leg. According to the Beetlehangers website, the fungus is being investigated as a means of controlling the Harlequin ladybird, as it is an invasive, non-native species that is threatening the populations of native British species. The fungus is believed to decrease the Harlequin’s ‘mating frequency, winter survival rate, and mobility’ – not very pleasant if you’re a Harlequin but good news for our other ladybird species.

Sunning

11 Monday May 2026

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

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bird cleaning behaviour, birding, birdwatching, blackbird, Blackbird sunbathing, Blackbird sunning, British birds

It’s an interesting way to get yourself clean but I’m sure you’ve all seen birds sunning themselves like this Blackbird, head up and beak open as if panting with the heat, body close to the ground with wings outspread. The BTO website gives two reasons for this behaviour:

It helps oil from the ‘preen gland’ to spread across the feathers, keeping them healthy and in good condition. It also drives parasites out from within the plumage. Some of these parasites feed on the feathers themselves, degrading their quality and function, and all are highly specialised, with many only found on a single species of bird.

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