Dingy Skipper. Photo: Shona Refoy on 9 April 2025

Watching the butterfly sightings reports and photos coming into this website is always fascinating, and this year’s recent good weather seems to be having its effect. Looking at the statistics, we currently have 27 species on the wing and 20 of those are earlier than last year. To give a few examples or our less common butterflies, the figure given being the number of days it is early compared to 2024.

Small Blue 10

Wood White 11

Marsh Fritillary 14

Common Blue 15

Adonis Blue 17

Lulworth Skipper 17

Wall Brown 18

Grizzled Skipper 20

Small Heath 25

Meadow Brown 25

Small Copper 27

Dingy Skipper 28

It must be borne in mind that last year was a bad butterfly year, but generally speaking, this year’s first sightings seem better than those of 2023 as well. We need to hope that the various species have managed to synchronise with the growth of the plants on which their caterpillars need to feed.

To see how first sighting dates compare this year to last, go to our First Sightings of 2025 page, and to see previous years see our All First Sightings page.