Author Archives: John East

A silvery blue butterfly with black spot markings

Holly Blue. Photo: Chris Burch

Chris sent in this photo of a late flying Holly Blue telling us:

This Holly Blue was seen at 13:06 yesterday, 18/11/2023 flying past me at the bottom of Bowleaze Coveway in Weymouth.  It landed in the car park of the Harvester restaurant which allowed me to snap it with my phone.   

A brown, red and black butterfly with white markings on a yellow flower

Red Admiral. Photo: Mark Hardaker

Mark sent in this photo telling us:

In the short break between storms on 15/11/2023 the warm sunshine brought out three Red Admirals in my Verwood garden. At one point they were all feeding on the same flowering bush but I missed being able to photograph them together.

A brown butterfly with some white markings on a blue flower

Red Admiral. Photo: Donald Simcock

A red, brown and black butterfly with white markings on a blue flower

Red Admiral. Photo: Donald Simcock

Two photos from Donald sent in tellings us:

We went to Kingston Lacy today, 11/11/2023 to see some trees changing colour and saw four Red Admirals. Two were in the kitchen garden feeding on the flowers and two in the house grounds. I managed to get a few photos of one feeding on a Salvia and the second one of those shows how long their proboscis is.

A red butterfly with brown, black, white and blue markings on some brown vegetation

Peacock. Photo: Lynda Lambert

Lynda sent in this photo telling us:

I found this fairly pristine Peacock near Scotland Farm, on Hartland Moor yesterday, 11/11/2023.  It was the only butterfly I saw and to get a photo I had to follow it on to the heath from the board walk where it was resting and where I accidentally disturbed it!

A brown butterfly with creamy white markings on a green leaf

Speckled Wood. Photo: Brian Arnold

A red, black and dark brown butterfly with white and blue markings on a tree trunk

Red Admiral. Photo: Brian Arnold

Two photos from Brian sent in telling us:

I have not seen any butterflies in our garden at Harman’s Cross for the past 2 weeks, possibly due to the dreadful weather. Today, 07/11/2023 is sunny and a bit warmer, so I went out in the garden to take a look and saw a Red Admiral and a Speckled Wood. The weather is due to be wet and windy again from tomorrow so maybe these will be our last garden sightings of 2023?
A brown butterfly with white and some black markings on some green vegetation

Long-tailed Blue. Photo: Lynda Lambert

A brown and blue butterfly on some green vegetation

Long-tailed Blue. Photo: Lynda Lambert

On the day of the national BC online Members’ Morning & AGM it is great to have these two photos from Lynda to share with everyone.  The Long-tailed Blue is a fairly rare and irregular visitor to southern England usually in late summer up to the end of September.  Lynda sent in the photos telling us:

I thought you might like these photos of the Long-tailed Blue I came across on the heath behind the Kitchen cafe on Hartland Moor today, 03/11/2023.  Rather surprising given it’s November and after the storms of late. It is looking a trifle worn, but good to find one nevertheless.

I almost didn’t cross the stream to the boggy heathland after having coffee at the cafe, but so glad I did.

A brown butterfly with cream coloured markings on green leaves

Speckled Wood. Photo: Lynda Lambert

Lynda sent in this photo telling us:

I managed a walk at Pamphill between heavy rain showers this morning, 28/10/2023 and was pleased to see a couple of Red Admirals in flight and two Speckled Woods. This one stopped and I thought how fresh it looked for October.