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. Continue reading
We had a sighting of the first Clouded Yellow of the year, at Southbourne on 19 March. This is good news for Dorset because a glance at the First Sightings section in the Butterfly Conservation’s national website indicates that it is the first one for the country as a whole. Continue reading
We had a very slow start to the year in terms of butterfly sightings, but as we head for the end of the first week of March, things are starting to improve. Continue reading
Butterfly numbers still appear to be well up on last year. Continue reading
The exceptionally mild weather of the last few days (this is being written on 26 February) has taken our sightings-so-far-this-year to an incredible level. Continue reading
With the recent snow, it’s a bit difficult to believe in sunshine or butterflies, but they will turn up. This website has so far had four species reported Continue reading
Elaine Conlon’s photo of a Meadow Brown at Badbury Rings on 30 May is our first record of a Meadow Brown for 2016, beating the first sighting in 2015 by a clear week. We now have 29 species which have taken to the wing in Dorset this year. Continue reading
First sightings are now coming in thick and fast – what a wonderful time of year this is! Continue reading
We now have six species reported in Dorset in 2016, and surprisingly, we have an earlier sighting of a Small White than a Peacock. Continue reading
Dorset is a great place for butterflies. Our very varied geology, plus being on the south coast, combine to give us around 45 species either resident or as a reliable migrant (“around” because this list includes the Wood White and the Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, both of which are possibly becoming extinct in the County).
As of 24 May, 28 of these species have been reported on the wing. May has added:
You can keep up with the first sightings on our First Sightings page.