Welcome to Dorset Butterfly Conservation
Dorset is one of the best areas in the UK for butterflies and moths, and we are a very active Branch of Butterfly Conservation. This website is designed to help you join our activities and enjoy our butterflies and moths, whether in reality or via the wonders of the internet.
ON THE WEBSITE
Save Our Butterflies Week
18-26 May
Save Our Butterflies Week is an opportunity for everybody to take part in a national recording scheme which year on year helps us to build a picture of changes in butterfly populations.
Green Hairstreak. Photo: Ken Dolbear
Take part by conducting a simple butterfly and day-flying moth count. All you have to do is pick a sunny mid-afternoon during Save Our Butterflies Week (yes, we've seen the weather forecast - think positive!) and make a count of the maximum numbers of each species of butterfly that you see. You should also include any day flying moths such as Silver-Y or Humming-bird Hawk-moths you see too.
We have a series of events in Dorset- see the right-hand column on this page - to help you find some good butterfly places.
You can report your sightings via our Butterfly Recording Form.
Help us hunt the Orange Tip
Our Orange Tips White Holes page will show you where no Orange Tips have been recorded for the last three years - please help us to fill the gaps. They are only on the wing in May and June, so there is no time to lose.
Photo: Keith Miller
Butterfly Stall success at Plant Heritage Plant Sale
See our News page for more info and photos from this lovely day.
Photo of first Grizzled Skipper reported to the website this year
On our gallery page.
Photography workshops on close-up and macro photography booking up
Photo: Mark Pike
The 25th May course is for users of SLR cameras; the 1st June course is for users of compact and bridge cameras. Both courses are filling up fast, so book quickly if you wish to attend. Go to our Events page for full information.
We need you to record lots of butterflies in Dorset in 2013
We record butterflies in a five-year cycle, and 2013 is year four, so the pressure is on to ensure butterflies are well recorded in Dorset.
Go to the White Holes page and use our brilliant Google Earth link to see if there is an area near you where no butterfly has so far been reported, so you can fill the hole!
Dorset Branch Twitter and Blog
We're on Twitter - see link at foot of page - and one of our members has a gardening blog:
butterfliesandgardens.wordpress.com
Help needed to put up gazebo at events
We need a couple of folk to help us about six times a year to put up our gazebo at the events to which we take our stall - a job which is getting to be a bit much for some of our volunteers who man the stall. It is probably a two-person job and you would need to be able to help take it down at the end of the event and to store the tent between events.
Whether you stay for the day or not will be up to you, but it does get you into places without paying and we can always do with another pair of hands....
If you think you can help, please contact Bridget de Whalley on 01258 880524 or BandL.deWhalley@btinternet.com
NEXT EVENTS
THURSDAY 23 MAY
Save our Butterflies Week
GUIDED WALK
Cashmoor Down
A guided walk for spring species including Dingy Skipper, Small Blue and Green Hairstreak.
Meet 1.00 pm in the lay-by at the eastern end of Cashmoor 50 mph speed restriction, map reference ST 980139.
Contact is Arthur Bryant on 01202 892816.
SATURDAY 25 MAY
Save our Butterflies Week
GUIDED WALK
Compton Down
This site has populations of Marsh Fritillary, Small Blue, Dingy and Grizzled Skipper as well as Adonis Blue and most should be on view.
Park at the National Trust car park at the top of Spread Eagle Hill or on the north side of the triangle near the airfield and meet at 11.00 am in the National Trust car park, map reference ST 885187.
Bring lunch to carry and eat on the down. Walk includes slopes and a stile.
Contact is Lawrie de Whalley on 01258 880524.
SATURDAY 25 MAY
FLOWERS AND INSECTS: A CLOSE-UP AND MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP FOR SLR CAMERA USERS
10.00 am – 4.30 pm. Tutor: John Bebbington FRPS.
Venue: Barton Meadows Organic Farm and Black Hill, Cerne Abbas.
Course fee and bookings: £45 for the day, including morning and afternoon refreshments. Concessions: £35 for BC members, regular volunteers on BC sites and unwaged. Reservations essential; places limited.
For more information, see flyer.
For a similar course aimed at those using compact and bridge cameras, see 1 June.
Reservations and booking forms, email: nigelspring@yahoo.co.uk.
SUNDAY 26 MAY
Save our Butterflies Week
A FLOWER AND BUTTERFLY WALK
Ballard Down (Swanage)
Joint with Dorset Wildlife Trust
A walk along the lower slopes of Ballard Down to enjoy this chalk downland site with its stunning views and the spring flowers. The lovely Adonis Blue will by now be on the wing.
Meet 11.00 am at Ulwell lay-by on the Swanage to Studland road, map reference SZ 022808.
Contact is Colin Nunn on 01929 439211.
SUNDAY 26 MAY
Save our Butterflies Week
CERNE GIANT HILL WALK
Guided walk over a splendid chalk grass downland habitat with 35 butterfly species recorded in nineteen years. At this time we can expect to see Adonis Blue, Brown Argus, Duke of Burgundy, Grizzled Skipper, Marsh Fritillary and Small Heath. Some parts of the walk are fairly steep.
Meet at 10.30 am at the Old Abbey entrance OS map reference ST 665013.
It is recommended to bring a packed lunch to eat after 1.00 pm in the open barn at Black Hill to the south of Cerne.
Afterwards, a BC display on downland butterflies can be viewed and there is the opportunity to enjoy a comprehensive art display by Elizabeth Bairstow at Barton Meadows Farm, Cerne Abbas DT2 7JS, off the A352, map reference ST 662005, where the entrance is signed 'Barton Meadows'; go along the track, passing the farm buildings to the barred gate ahead for parking on the left.
This exhibition is open from 10.00 am Saturday 25 May until 5.00pm 2 June, to launch Elizabeth Bairstow's illustrated book ‘The Untidy Blackbird and other Stories’ which is the first book from the forthcoming series ‘The Magic of Nature - About a Farm’. This exhibition is a forerunner to the opening of her Studio Gallery which is to be called ‘The Magic of Nature’ at 2 Wishay Street, Poundbury, Dorchester DT1 3GU later in the year.
Contact is Malcolm Wemyss on 01935 872047or 07977 287739, email malcolm@wemyssfamily.co.uk
MONDAY 27 MAY
GUIDED WALK
Lydlinch Common
This is a key site for the Marsh Fritillary and our winter work programme here is designed to maintain the habitat for this species.
Meet 2.00 pm in the lay-by just outside the village on the Sherborne to Sturminster road, map reference ST 736137. Please note that is a new meeting place for this event.
Contact is Colin Burningham on 01935 873219.
MONDAY 27 MAY to THURSDAY 30 MAY
BUTTERFLY AND MOTH WEEK
Moors Valley Country Park
We will be at Moors Valley Country Park again this year, celebrating Butterfly and Moth Week with lots of live butterflies and moths to show you. This year, children can pot up a larval foodplant to grow at home as part of the ‘Munching Caterpillars’ project. Plus children’s activities and moth trap openings.
Contact is Bridget de Whalley on 01258 880 524.
If you have any butterfly or moth news, stories or photos, email: news@dorsetbutterflies.com
Join Butterfly Conservation to help us save butterflies, moths and their habitats: Join Now
We still need to fill the map of Dorset with butterfly sightings - can you help?
Update All the white areas on the map below are ones where no butterfly has been reported in 2010, 2011 and 2012. We've only got another 2 years to fill them, so please help.
See the White Holes page for further information.
