Painted lady caterpillars

03 Monday Aug 2026

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Some of the 20-plus Painted lady butterflies (Vanessa cardui) in yesterday’s enchanting wildflower meadow were faded so probably migrants, but many had colours that were rich and vibrant, leading me to think they were most likely locally bred and recently emerged. This new generation contains the butterflies that will migrate from Britain in the autumn, returning to the locations where their parents originated.

Perhaps due to the large numbers of Painted ladies that arrived here this year, I have, for the first time, seen many Painted lady caterpillars. My butterfly bible, Peter Eeles’s Lifecycles of British & Irish Butterflies, tells me the female lays up to 500 eggs, each singly, most often on thistles but also on burdocks, Common nettle, and mallows amongst others.

After it hatches, the larva spins itself a little web in which to live, eating away the surrounding leaf, until its food is exhausted. It them moves to a new leaf and spins another web (as the caterpillar in the photo above is doing), and so it continues for approximately four weeks when it reaches its fifth instar and is ready to pupate.

These miniature leaf-and-silk structures are quite obvious on plants like thistles; you can usually see the caterpillar inside and there is an accumulation of frass in the bottom of the structure. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to find a pupa – that is also found inside a specially spun silk tent of leaves … maybe next year.

A meadow full of Painted ladies

02 Sunday Aug 2026

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I had a different blog planned for today (though it was also about this butterfly, and will follow tomorrow) but, after spending a magical hour in this wildflower meadow today, spellbound at the sight of at least twenty, probably more Painted ladies, I just had to share my enchantment with you.

Chiffchaff vs caterpillar

01 Saturday Aug 2026

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It seems mad to be writing this during the continuing heat of this hottest of summers but, for our feathered friends, autumn migration has begun.

You may have noticed fewer Swifts screaming through our skies, Swallows amassing on high wires, and, though many now remain to over-winter, fewer Chiffchaffs chiffchaffing from the trees where they were born and raised.

This particular Chiffchaff was one of several in the local coastal fields, feeding up before setting off on the next leg of its flight south.

It was searching this way and that, trying to find nutritious snacks, only to find its next snack was dangling, quite well hidden, above its head. The caterpillar didn’t give up easily but, after some strong tugs, the Chiffchaff won the day.

The moth that acts like it’s a bird

31 Friday Jul 2026

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We don’t have Hummingbirds in the UK but I used to see them quite regularly when I lived in Peru so, when I see the creature in today’s images, my mind always goes back to my time living in South America.

Of course, this creature is smaller than even the smallest hummingbird, but not by as much as you might think. A Google search tells me that the Bee hummingbird, the world’s smallest, ranges in length from 5.5cms for a male to 6.1cms for a female, whereas a Humming-bird hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum) is between 3 to 5cms.

I don’t know about you but I’ve seen a lot of Humming-bird hawk-moths this summer, more than I remember seeing in previous years and, as this moth migrates to the UK from southern Europe and North Africa, I presume the increased sightings are yet another effect of the hot south-easterly winds blowing from the Continent and our continuing record-breaking heatwaves.

Though they are super to watch when they’re hovering to feed, these moths can be tricky to photograph. They rarely stay still for long so sharp images are almost impossible to capture though, actually, I don’t mind that too much as it does give a sense of their movement.

NFY: Grayling

30 Thursday Jul 2026

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This is the last post from my recent mini-break in Weymouth, another first butterfly sighting for 2026 from my first meander around the former quarries on the Isle of Portland. These are, of course, Graylings (Hipparchia semele).

By happy coincidence, the Graylings had just started emerging when I visited. During my first walk around Tout and King Barrow quarries, on 9 July, I only saw two of these cryptically coloured butterflies. Just two days later, another quarry exploration produced more than 20 Graylings, with several flitting around me at once in one particular location, much to my delight.

I usually take the train up one of the local Welsh valleys to Aberbargoed coal spoil tip in July to see the only local population of these butterflies that is accessible to me as a non-driver. This year, with much of Britain sweltering under our third heatwave of the year, I haven’t made that trek, so I was even more grateful to have seen such numbers of Grayling in Dorset.

Common terns and their chicks

29 Wednesday Jul 2026

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During June and July, one of the highlights of every visit to RSPB Lodmoor is watching and listening to the Common terns in the process of raising the next generation of Common terns. They share the artificial breeding ‘islands’ with Lesser black-backed gulls, mostly harmoniously, but the noise generated by adults and offspring communicating with each other and the almost constant neighbourhood disputes has to be heard to be believed. It’s rowdy and raucous but in a rather joyous, life-affirming kind of way.

During my recent visit, from 8 to 15 July, most of the terns’ offspring had already fledged but were still being fed by their parents, so were spending their time sitting along the shoreline of the various pools of water. Sometimes they sat alone or with their siblings; at other times, one parent sat nearby, standing guard, while the other parent was away fishing for food.

However, it seems some pairs of Common terns had started the breeding process several weeks later than the others. A couple were still sitting on eggs and, during the week I was there, some tiny chicks hatched. They were so small and well camouflaged that it was difficult to see them, even with binoculars, let alone get clear photographs, but I hope you can pick them out amongst the stones in the images above and below.

Scarce chasers

28 Tuesday Jul 2026

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Well, hello there!

Those amazing blue eyes are the easiest way to distinguish the male Scarce chaser (Libellula fulva) from other quite similar blue-bodied dragonflies like the Keeled skimmer (Orthetrum coerulescens) and the male Black-tailed skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum) (both featured in my blog The skimmers, published in June 2017).

Both sexes of Scarce chaser have brown eyes and a bright orange abdomen when they first emerge, something I didn’t realise when I wrote my first blog about this species, Lifer: Scarce chaser, in June 2025 (though the dragonfly I labelled as female was indeed a female). As the females age, they change to an ochre-brown colour, while the males change to a pruinose pale blue, with a dark tip.

In case you don’t know, pruinescence is a covering of wax particles that develops on the skin as the male dragonfly ages, making it look blue. That pruinescence often gets scraped off during the mating process when the female is holding on to the male’s abdomen. If you look at the image above, you can see these darker scrape marks around the central area of the male’s abdomen, and, looking at the image below of the dragonflies mating, you can see how the female holds on to the male from below, causing the scratching in that area.

These recent photos and sightings were, of course, at RSPB Radipole, in exactly the same location where I saw my first Scarce chasers in 2025. And, just as last year, these dragonflies were very co-operative photographic subjects, though I did eventually just put down my camera and watch as they went about their daily lives. Such stunning creatures!

NFY: Lulworth Skipper

27 Monday Jul 2026

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It was during my visit to Weymouth and the Isle of Portland in June last year that I saw my first Lulworth skippers (Thymelicus acteon) – in fact, they were one of the main reasons I made that particular trip (I wrote about that visit in last year’s blog, Lifer: Lulworth skipper).

The Lulworths had only just emerged when I visited in 2025 so I only saw males. This year my visit was a month later, and both males and females were flying in good numbers. As you can see in my photo of a female above, these little beauties can be identified by the circle of lighter, golden marks on their wings.

There’s something a little cheeky about these Lulworth skippers. They may be tiny, with a wingspan of just 28mm, but they’re feisty, particularly the males. I noticed them flying quite aggressively at any other, larger butterflies that moved through their territories, and bravely stayed perched on their chosen twig or wildflower when a monster like me approached them. The latter was particularly helpful when I was trying to get photos, of which I now have rather a lot.

Golden-ringed dragonfly

26 Sunday Jul 2026

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Golden-ringed dragonflies are impressive beasties! Though the Emperor dragon (Anax imperator) is larger and has the widest wingspan of all the British dragons (10.5 cms), the Golden-ringed (Cordulegaster boltonii) has the longest body of any British odonata species (females grow to around 8.4 cms). This is a dragon I rarely see as it has a preference for the acidic conditions found in the heathlands and peat bogs of upland locations, so you can perhaps imagine my surprise at finding one on 12 July during my walk around RSPB Radipole, a seaside site with extensive reed beds surrounding a tidal river and lake.

It was patrolling one of the footpaths through the reeds and then, miraculously, settled within viewing distance on a Buddleja with first one, then a second Norfolk hawker. And I was delighted that I was able to share this experience with an interested couple who happened along at just the right time and who were also excited to see both dragonfly species together.

An Oystercatcher family

25 Saturday Jul 2026

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Though my recent week in Weymouth only produced one new bird for my year list, I did still enjoy every visit to RSPB Lodmoor, as many of their local birds are different from those I see when birding close to home.

Although small numbers of Oystercatchers are a regular sight along the south Wales coastline, they rarely breed here; I know of only one pair that have tried for many years at an odd location, under one of the dolphins in Cardiff Bay (I blogged about this in Chicks of Cardiff Bay, June 2024).

So, it was wonderful to be treated to some close views of this well-grown juvenile Oystercatcher interacting with its parents each time I visited Lodmoor. The young one seemed perfectly able to feed itself but its parents were still supplementing its food intake – long thin worms, pulled from the mud, seemed to be the most common snack.

Though the juvenile was almost as big as its parents, its beak and legs had still to acquire their adult colours. And, as is common with the young of all creatures, including humans, the young’un spent a lot of its time snoozing. I only hope it lives long and prospers!