With the old year over, the butterfly year starts again, so who is going to be the first to report a sighting to this website? Continue reading
The first Dorset butterfly of 2016 – a Painted Lady – was recorded by Neil Croton on the 3rd January within the Sadborow Estate in Thorncombe, close to the border with Devon. Continue reading
Speckled Wood (not the one reported). Photo: Lawrie de Whalley.
A Speckled Wood was seen in Poole on March 6, which is the first reported sighting of this butterfly in the UK this year. We don’t usually reckon to see this butterfly until late March/early April, but February sightings have been known. Records sent to this website show first sightings as:
In case you are wondering – it’s not in the First Sightings list on this website, because we received the record from another source. It falls to the local Butterfly Conservation volunteers to verify sightings from all sources, many of which do not reach us until the end of the year, but sometimes we get on early, like this.