a dog's life in the Tamar valley, Cornwall, PL17

At last summer has arrived with some warm sunshine. The meadows are full of wild flowers. This is a heath fritillary (female) feeding on ...

I have been looking for this little green butterfly (the green hairstreak) for the last five years, and at last today in Greenscombe wood...

There are dozens of our big late summer butterflies around, gathering on the butterfly bush, up to 6 or 7 at a time on one flower head. A...

As was predicted last year, there is a developing plague of white butterflies. There are 6 small whites (and a tortoiseshell) on this one ...

We saw two or three clouded yellows today, this is several weeks earlier than last year. Clouded yellows are usually migrants from southe...

It has been predicted recently that this will be a good year for peacock butterflies. They are attracted to hemp agrimony, a common wild...

It is the start of butterfly count month (see link ). The meadows were teeming with the usual mid July suspects, including dozens of small...

A wave of meadow brown butterflies is sweeping through the lanes, maybe it is going to be a very good month for butterflies.

 a greater butterfly orchid a tattered heath fritillary a violet ground beetle

large red damselflies mating (top), a small heath butterfly (middle), and a miniature forest of marsh lousewort growing in the moss ...

This is the marsh fritillary, feeding on a spotted heath orchid at Wimalford farm (see link ). It is a rare butterfly and is under a lot o...

 red, green, yellow and blue, everything is appearing  a tortoiseshell on ragged robin   a small skipper on campion  a f...

orange tip butterfly thoughtfully displaying both sides of its wings. Also on the wing today were peacocks, tortoiseshells, green veined ...

the first, rather tattered looking speckled wood of the year. These butterflies over winter as caterpillars or chrysalides, so this must b...

A brilliant display of celandines on Broadgate lane, and a brilliant display of yellowness by a male brimstone.

A tortoiseshell caught hibernating on a log from the wood shed. It is extremely well camouflaged in this situation by the seemingly drab ...

It was a brilliant if cool sunny day today, and there were several tortoiseshell and red admiral butterflies fluttering about, feeding be...

It was all getting a bit crowded. Bramble and knapweed have almost stopped flowering, and the meadows are full of devil's bit scab...

We saw 15 species of butterfly today on our walk along the Inny, including several more clouded yellows. They always close their wings...

Yesterday was a dreary wet day so I read the morning newspaper more thoroughly than usual. In it, Simon Barnes, sports writer and naturalist...