Tag Archives: Cerne Abbas

An orange and white butterfly with black markings

Glanville Fritillary. Photo: Dr Jason Hall

Jason sent in this photo of a Glanville Fritillary he saw at Cerne Abbason 02/06/2024 telling us:

I saw on the branch website last night that Glanvilles have recently been reported from Compton Down, but I was certainly very surprised to see one in Cerne Abbas.  It was basking around mid-day on the hard-packed mud/gravel trail between the Kettle bridge car park and the base of Giant Hill and stayed put for at least 20 minutes in the same area.

Side view of a butterfly with light brown underwings marked with orange round the edge, plus black circles with white edges further in

Brown Argus. Photo: Sharon Towning

Butterfly with wings in shades of brown and cream

Dingy Skipper. Photo: Sharon Towning

Both of these butterflies were seen by Sharon on Giant’s Hill, Cerne Abbas on 11 May. She reports there were plenty of Dingy Skippers, which is encouraging, as neither the Dingy nor the Grizzled Skipper did particularly well last year.

Butterly with mainly orange-brown wings, and white marks on the underside of the hindwing

Duke of Burgundy. Photo: Roy Norris

Roy saw the Duke on 10 May on Giant Hill at Cerne Abbas – the one site in Dorset where you can be reasonably sure to find them at this time of year. He says he saw two, both at the far (Northern) end of the foothill of the Giant.

An orange butterfly with brown and black markings resting on a pale green leaf

Duke of Burgundy. Photo: Nick Galer

This is the second photo of a Duke of Burgundy on the Gallery this year – this one was taken by Nick at Giant’s Hill, Cerne Abbas yesterday, 08/05/2024 who sent it to in with the following comment:

I see that 3 were recorded there yesterday, very exciting news.

A bright green and brown butterfly on a green leaf

Green Hairstreak. Photo: Sharon Towning

Sharon sent in this photo of one of the four Green Hairstreaks she saw yesterday, 07/05/2024 on Giant’s Hill, Cerne Abbas pointing out that this one was also showing its upper wing plain brown colouring.

 

An orange butterfly with brown and black markings resting on a green leaf

Duke of Burgundy. Photo: Shona Refoy

An orange butterfly with brown and black markings resting on a green leaf

Duke of Burgundy. Photo: Shona Refoy

Shona sent in these two photos telling us:

It was a misty start on Giant Hill today, 07/05/2024 but when the sun did come out, so did the butterflies!  One of the first was this female Duke of Burgundy, looking somewhat the worse for wear, followed a while later by this male. I saw another male, paler in colour, shortly before leaving the hill.