Category Archives: insects

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.

NFY: Chalkhill blue

24 Friday Jul 2026

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A July visit to Dorset’s south coast was always intended to be about butterflies (and dragonflies) rather than birds, and so it proved to be. I missed seeing one of my target butterfly species; the Silver-studded blues seem to have been affected by this year’s continuing heatwaves, beginning their season earlier than usual and only reported flying on Portland for about four weeks, a much shorter period than usual. Try as I might, and despite getting great advice from locals, I failed to find any. But their absence was more than made up for by the Chalkhill blues (Lysandra coridon).

I think you’ll agree that these are stunningly beautiful butterflies. The silvery blue of the male is more subtle and delicate than the flashy brilliance of the Adonis blue, while the female’s upper wings are a rich chocolate brown, often with a sprinkling of blue close to her body.

My photographs here show, in descending order, a female with wings closed, showing the underside patterning and colouration; a female with open wings; a male with closed wings, showing his underside colours; and, finally, an open-winged male.

Despite the heat, I wandered Tout and King Barrow, the former quarries on the Isle of Portland, several times during this visit and, each time, I was rewarded with an increasing number of pristine sightings of these stunning butterflies, as they continued to emerge from pupation. I was in butterfly heaven, even though it felt hotter than hell!

Ruddy Ruddy darter

23 Thursday Jul 2026

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You’ll recall that, when I published A tale of two darters five days ago, I wrote ‘Now I need to find one of the blood-red male Ruddy darters, as they look quite stunning in the photos I’ve seen. Watch this space!’ Well …

Seeing these two males was a totally unexpected and absolutely wonderful surprise during my last wander around the nature reserve at Radipole on my final day in Weymouth. And they really are as blood-red as their ‘ruddy’ name implies. Simply sublime!

A tale of two hawkers

21 Tuesday Jul 2026

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June to October are the best months of the year to see the Southern hawker dragonfly (Aeshna cyanea), and so far I’ve seen two. The first was during my wander through Slade Wood on 2 July, a bonus sighting on a day mostly dedicated to looking for butterflies (see NFY: White admiral & Silver-washed fritillary) but which also turned up the Ruddy darters I blogged about last week in A tale of two darters.

It often seems strange to me to find dragonflies patrolling the vegetation lining woodland rides, particularly when the nearest water source is quite some distance away but this is normal behaviour for the Southern hawker, and many other species. I found my second Southern hawker of the year on 5 July, in a similar setting, flying rapidly back and forth along a wooded lane about a mile from the nearest water source. On their website, the British Dragonfly Society notes that this species has spread throughout much of England and Wales in recent years, and has also colonised parts of Scotland, so hopefully many of you will have been privileged to see them in your area.

One of the reasons I booked my latest visit to the south Dorset coast for July was to see more Norfolk hawkers (Aeshna isoceles), a dragonfly species I saw for the first time during a visit to Weymouth last June. I was not disappointed, though I had forgotten how tricky and frustrating they can sometimes be to photograph – like most hawkers, they rarely stay still for long.

Fortunately, the nature reserve at Radipole is just a short walk from where I stay in Weymouth so I was able to wander its trails multiple times and at different times of the day, giving myself as many opportunities as possible of watching these green-eyed beauties. And, as is often the case with wildlife, time and patience and getting to know the behaviour of the creature you’re watching can bring the rewards you’re hoping for. I’m already planning my 2027 wildlife excursions to include Radipole for more Norfolk hawker watching next year.

NFY: Marbled white

20 Monday Jul 2026

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Amazingly, I didn’t see my first Marbled white (Melanargia galathea) of the year during my recent week on the south coast of Dorset, nor during any other recent jaunts away from home. Though this butterfly species is not resident locally, my first sighting this year was on 29 June just a couple of miles from home at Lavernock Nature Reserve. Even more surprisingly, I didn’t see just one, but rather two of these stunning butterflies, and a couple of local chaps I talked to had seen six (!) the previous day. As we had just experienced our second heatwave of the year, from the 22nd to the 25th of June, it’s likely that these butterflies had been blown across the Bristol Channel from England on the hot nor’easterly winds we experienced during those few days.

I love these stunningly patterned butterflies so I was very pleased to have timed my latest visit to Weymouth and the Isle of Portland with their peak flying time of mid June to mid July. Despite my visit also coinciding with our third heatwave of the year (I’d booked my travel several months earlier), by leaving my guesthouse before 7am, I still managed to spend many hours over several days wandering around the disused quarries on Portland, thrilled to be surrounded by these, and many other, butterfly species.

In his Life Cycles of British & Irish Butterflies, Peter Eeles explains that the aposematic colouring of this black-and-white butterfly is thought to deter potential predators, the flavonoids from the food ingested by its larva making both larva and adult taste bad. Eeles also notes that these flavonoids ‘make the butterfly more visible to potential to potential mates thanks to the ultra-violet reflection from the flavonoid-rich white areas that contrast with the blacks on the wings’. Wouldn’t it be amazing to see what the butterflies see?

If you’re wondering why the Marbled whites in some of my photos have a brown hue that’s because the female of the species, though still having the black-and-white marbling on her upper wings, exhibits a pale brown tint on the undersides and on the leading edge of her forewings.

A tale of two darters

18 Saturday Jul 2026

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I saw my first Common darter (Sympetrum striolatum) of the year on 26 June, though I haven’t seen many more yet. However, they are known to be common throughout Britain, except for the Scottish highlands and upland locations in the north of England, so I’m sure I’ll be seeing more in the coming weeks – the core months for sightings are from June right through to the end of November, depending on the weather conditions.

At first glance, you might think the two dragonflies shown above are the same species – I certainly did – but they’re not. And, fortunately, as I had seen this other species at this particular location three years ago, I took lots of photos. The second photo (and my third photo, below) shows a Ruddy darter (Sympetrum sanguineum). The Common darter has pale stripes down its legs, whereas the Ruddy darter’s legs are black. Another feature to look for is the black T-shaped mark on the top of the Ruddy darter’s thorax – the Common darter doesn’t have this. If in doubt, the British Dragonfly Society website has excellent side-by-side photos of the tops and sides of the various darter species, which I find very helpful.

Many of you who live in England have probably seen a Ruddy darter but they are not common in the southwest or far north, and, in Wales, are only seen in the eastern counties nearest to England. I found the two shown here during a recent visit to Slade Wood in Monmouthshire. Now I need to find one of the blood-red male Ruddy darters, as they look quite stunning in the photos I’ve seen. Watch this space!

NFY: White admiral & Silver-washed fritillary

17 Friday Jul 2026

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My annual pilgrimage to Slade Wood, in the neighbouring county of Monmouthshire, on Thursday 2 July, was an absolute joy! If you’ve been here a while, you’ll know that I go to the woodland each year around the beginning of July as it’s the closest, most accessible location for me to try and see two very special butterfly species.

This year I only managed to see two White admirals (Limenitis camilla), and one of those was just a tantalising glimpse as it flew across the woodland ride above me. And, though I waited and watched, it did not reappear. Luckily for me, about a third of the way along the main ride I spotted a second White admiral moving around the lower branches of a tree. These butterflies often have a favourite perch they return to frequently – I hoped I had found it but, unfortunately, the butterfly flew off and also did not reappear.

The Silver-washed fritillaries (Argynnis paphia) were much more numerous, and more co-operative, and the reason for my joy. In fact, I saw more of them at Slade Wood that day that I’ve ever seen in previous years. I’m not talking about hundreds of butterflies but somewhere between ten and twenty, and they’re just the ones I could see along the ride; there were sure to be more gliding around amongst the trees.

These butterflies are large, impressive, stunningly beautiful. Having them float past within inches of me, chase each other among the vegetation, settle to feed within touching distance – moments like these are bliss for a butterfly lover like me.

Holly blues love poo!

15 Wednesday Jul 2026

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In all but the most northerly parts of Britain, Holly blue butterflies have two broods every year (and, very very occasionally, in southern Britain, depending on the weather, a late third brood), and the males of the second brood started to emerge in my area around the end of June.

As with many butterfly species, though the Holly blue butterfly feeds primarily on aphid honeydew, the males also gravitate towards damp earth, decaying vegetable matter, and the poo of other creatures, which might seem fairly disgusting to us humans, but is for them the source of essential salts and minerals.

Judging by the number of Holly blues I saw doing this at a local park recently (two males together in two separate locations), they seem to feed this way very soon after they hatch. I’ve since read that the salts they absorb from this feeding behaviour help to fuel their flight muscles and also that they then transfer the minerals to female Holly blues when they mate, which helps with egg production, so it makes sense that this mineral and salt absorption happens before they start searching for emerging females to mate with.

NFY: Gatekeeper

14 Tuesday Jul 2026

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Though the precise timing does depend on the weather, over the last 10 years the dates on which I see my first Gatekeepers (Pyronia tithonus) rarely vary by more than a few days, around the end of June and the start of July. This year my first sighting was on 28 June, and it was at the same location as in several of the past years, fluttering around vegetation by a gate in to one of the fields at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park. If only all creatures were so predictable – though that would be much less of a challenge!