Butterfly species are divided into the following 'families'. Pictures of each species and links to full profiles are shown below, or use the A-Z list.

Species reported flying within the last 7 days are flagged ACTIVE

Notes

The pages in this section only cover the butterflies that breed in Dorset. Hence we include the Painted Lady and Clouded Yellow because, although they are migrants, they usually give rise to one new brood after they have arrived.

There are some other, very occasional, migrants, which are not able to breed here, but these are not included to help avoid identification problems.

The flight times of the adult butterflies given are specific to Dorset, elsewhere in the country they may be later.