HOW I WROTE THIS BOOK
 
A long time ago, when I was a boy, my friends and I collected butterflies. We also collected eggs and caterpillars and bred some perfect specimens for our collections. But most excitement came from discovering rare or unusual butterflies in the wild. That excitement, coupled with an appreciation of the sheer beauty of butterflies, has always been with me.
 
In 2003 I decided to try to photograph all the British butterfly species. Although it had been a lifetime interest, there were still many butterflies that I had never seen. There would be no timetable, my wife and I would just arrange our holidays to visit parts of Britain where we had never been before and we would try to find butterflies wherever we went. But I soon discovered that, for many species, finding where to look was more of a challenge than I had expected. Although there was plenty of general information, there was very little precise guidance about where to look.
 
So from a casual beginning in 2003, I began to research where to go and worked out an itinerary. Then, during 2004, the idea of a book emerged and a contract with WildGuides followed and this led to a commitment and a more serious timetable. But we were enjoying our visits and the huge excitement of finding new butterfly species for ourselves. By the beginning 2005, only a dozen species remained to be found (and photographed). Although this doesn't sound many, to find them still needed a great deal of activity between May and July 2005 because most of the remaining species were the difficult ones!
 
My advice to anyone who should consider repeating this adventure, is take your time. Do it at leisure when your holiday plans or business travel allows. Don't rush, and don't be too disappointed when it rains, or the wind blows, while the weather forecast still says "sunny and warm".
 
I hope to have given you some appreciation of what these good butterfly places are like so that you can decide whether you would like to visit them. Some are worth travelling miles for. Some are national parks with all the facilities that these provide. Others are just small oases where specialist butterfly hunters may find a rare species, with no facilities and barely somewhere to park a car.
 
In the book, I have tried to transmit some of the excitement of discovering rare species in the wild, while not disguising the problems that may occur. So take time to plan your trips carefully. When you are there, seek the advice of park rangers or wardens or fellow butterfly enthusiasts, because every year may be different from the last. Above all, wait for good weather. The key is sunshine. Without it you are unlikely to succeed. With it, you will have the reward of seeing beautiful insects in wonderful parts of Britain. And do please email your findings (or lack of them) and I will add these to this website to guide other people.
  
Good luck and enjoy yourself!
 
 
AND NOW HERE ARE SOME RECENT SIGHTINGS

19.06.08  I spent this afternoon at Glapthorn and two days ago an afternoon at Brampton Wood, looking for Black Hairstreaks. Conditions were similar: mixed sunshine and cloud with the temperature about 20C. So far this year, the recorders at both reserves have noted reduced numbers. My impression is that there were more butterflies on the wing at Brampton Wood, but the fewer numbers at Glapthorn were coming lower because there is more early-flowering bramble to attract them down. Typical sightings were about 8 an hour at the best site at Brampton Wood and 4 an hour at the best site at Glapthorn. The photo below is a fresh-looking male at Glapthorn.

24.05.08  The improved weather continued to this weekend, so on Saturday I went to Totternhoe Knolls and Quarry near Dunstable. This is at the northern end of Dunstable Downs and the old chalk quarry is well-known locally as a place to find the Duke of Burgundy. It was quite windy and with intermittent sunshine, so we had to look hard (eventually there were 5 people looking together) but we eventually saw about half-a-dozen Dukes over a half hour period. They were all close to the floor of the quarry which was the most sheltered area. We also looked for Small Blues and there were a few on the wing within the quarry environs. However the reliable site under the high chalk escarpment near the NT car park allowed us to find quite a lot more including a mating pair and several basking males, even though the temperature was falling and rain imminent. 

22.05.08  At last another fine day after a long period of cooler and damp May days. I spent the afternoon at Twywell Hills and Dales, near Kettering. In the Whitestones area there were plenty of Dingy Skippers with some Green Hairstreaks, Small Heaths and a few Common Blues on the wing. In the Gullet I saw just one Grizzled Skipper nectaring on wild strawberry, but I did not have time to stay long enough to see more and we had only intermittent sunshine at this point. A visit is well recommended for butterfliers who live in this area.

10.05.08  The last few days have been warm and sunny. Today has been very warm but partly overcast. I visited the Devil's Dyke, near Newmarket, where Green Hairstreaks and Dingy Skippers were busy flying swiftly at low level over short grass on the south-facing bank.

26.04.08  The first really warm, sunny Saturday of 2008 brought many sightings in South Cambridgeshire. Several freshly-emerged Holly Blues appeared in my garden and Peacocks and Brimstones were prominent. This photo of a Peacock basking on a carpet of fallen petals was taken before 9am.

22.04.08  I was delighted to see a Small Tortoiseshell at Elmdon, Essex this afternoon. It was in good condition after the winter and hopefully will breed successfully. In some parts of the country Small Tortoiseshells have been badly hit by a parasitic wasp, but there have already been quite a lot of other sightings in Cambridgeshire, Essex and Hertfordshire this year.

9.2.08  I saw my first butterfly of 2008 today. A fresh, male Brimstone was fluttering along an ivy-covered hedge in Ickleton, Cambs, in bright sunshine. It was an unseasonably warm, sunny day. And the next day, not far away at Elmdon, near Saffron Walden, this experience was repeated. Two Brimstones in successive days in February!

 
31.8.07 The last day of summer 2007 has been cool and cloudy where I am in Cambridgeshire. But yesterday there was still a good selection of species on the wing with Peacocks and Red Admirals prominent and Small and Green-veined Whites along the Icknield Way which passes nearby.

 
12.8.07 The exceptional weather of spring and early summer gave way to long periods with overcast skies. I was fortunate to spend a week in La Brenne (south of the Loire valley) and a week in the French Pyrenees. La Brenne in late June was also overcast much of the time (and two days in  Normandy were a butterfly washout!) but the Pyrenees in early July was good. The highlight there was finding two colonies of Gavarnie Blues (one of the rarest blue species). Also Large Blues were on the wing in the Pyrenees and at La Brenne. Our Mountain Ringlets are quite common in the Pyrenees, although they are difficult to separate on the wing from several other species of Mountain Ringlet.
 

 
Back in Britain, it has been good in my part of Cambridgeshire for Gatekeepers and for second generation Holly Blues. All the Whites, Red Admirals, Peacocks, Commas, Brimstones and the occasional Small Tortoiseshell have been in our garden. Stephen Gilbert got some good photos of a White-letter Hairstreak at Fanham's Hall in Hertfordshire, but it has not been a good butterfly summer. My impression is that numbers are down compared with last year.

 
The appearance of a number of Large Tortoiseshells along the south coast, and particularly in the Sidmouth area during July, is surprising. Are they immigrants or could they have bred here naturally? Or have they been intentionally released by a private breeder? The picture below was taken in Provence in 2006 - I have never seen a Large Tortoiseshell on the wing in this country. It would be marvellous if they were able to re-establish themselves here.

10.6.07  The overcast weather that has dogged the Norfolk Broads on and off for the last week continued today. The temperature fell to as low as 16 deg C in the early afternoon. Not surprisingly this has turned the Swallowtail into a rarer species than usual at this time of year. However they are about, and Stephen Gilbert gave me this beautiful image that he got last Tuesday, 5.6.07, near the keeper's cottage at Strumpshaw Fen.
 
Geoff Jones has emailed to report on good sightings of Glanville Fritillaries at Hurst Point (which is south of Lymington), near the ferry landing. This is about the closest point of the mainland to the Isle of Wight. There is only about a mile of water between them.
 

 
26.5.07 The May Bank Holiday weekend looks like being a very disappointing one for butterfly spotters. Cool and overcast in Cambridgeshire today, the forecast for Sunday and Monday is worse. Since our glorious April, we have not heard much this month about global warming! My own sightings recently have been confined to a few Holly Blues and a variety of Whites. Hopefully, Swallowtails will be on the wing in numbers next weekend, 2-3 June. I am recommending Catfield, How Hill and Wheatfen, with David Nobbs, the resident warden at Wheatfen a very good person from whom to seek advice if you go there.
 
13.5.07 The Met office announced that April was the hottest we have had since records began. That may be the case, but May is certainly not following the same pattern. It has been cold and wet all day in Cambridgeshire today, and Geoff Jones emailed that a local BC visit to Magdalen Hill Down, Hampshire, was a big disappointment yesterday, with very few butterflies seen. Stephen Gilbert told me that Fanham's Hall, Hertfordshire and Sawston Hall, Cambridgeshire were both very good for Orange Tips at the beginning of May, but that activity is now much reduced.
 
29.4.07 This has been the best butterfly weekend of 2007 so far. The good weather continued and the Holly Blues that had been making regular appearances for the last two weeks agreed to stop for a photograph. In my garden in Cambridgeshire we saw at least one each of Brimstone, Orange Tip, Large White, Small White, Green-veined White, Peacock, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood and Holly Blue. Butterfly Conservation's First Sightings page has the astonishing news that a Lulworth Skipper was seen (by Martin Warren) on 28 April. This is over two months ahead of schedule! BC say they will be issuing a press release shortly about this.

28.4.07 Today is hot and sunny as we come to the end of the hottest April for many years. By 23 April, St George's Day, Butterfly Conservation's first-sightings page showed that 29 of our 58 British species had already been seen. Although Small Tortoiseshells have been in short supply, last weekend Stephen Gilbert saw about 30 of them in a field at Fen Ditton near Cambridge. Also he saw a lot of Orange Tips at Sawston Hall and here is his photo of a roosting Orange Tip.

 
13.4.07 Today was initially misty and overcast, but brightened up by 2pm. A Brimstone was on patrol, and I was pleased to see two fresh Speckled Woods sunning themselves on a line of conifer trees in our garden in Ickleton. We do not always see them, and I think there were none in 2006.

 
6.4.07 The good weather has continued, with regular sightings of Brimstones, Peacocks and Commas, but so far no Holly Blues reported in Cambridgeshire. Geoff Jones spent the day at Titchfield Haven, Hants, and saw his first Speckled Woods, Orange Tips and one Holly Blue. He also saw another Holly Blue nearer home. Geoff saw one Small Tortoiseshell at Titchfield Haven and Stephen Gilbert saw another at Sawston Hall, Cambridgeshire, also today.
 
1.4.07 After another cold, wet and windy week, the weather improved tremendously this weekend. Today was a day of unbroken sunshine in this area of Cambridgeshire, although it was quite breezy. There were several Brimstones (only males identified at close range) and several Peacocks seen locally. Although there was a reported sighting in Hampshire on 7.3.07 (see the home page), so far no Holly Blues have been spotted in their regular known haunts here yet.
 
26.3.07 The past week has been very cold and damp, a complete change from the preceding two weeks of unseasonable warmth and sunshine. The only butterfly sighting I have been told about was a Brimstone apparently disturbed from a bamboo plant by gardeners at Fanham's Hall, Herts.
 
19.3.07 I saw Stephen Gilbert today. He and his son, who looks after the large gardens at Sawston Hall, Cambs, long disused but now being restored, had an astonishing day there last Monday, 12.3.07. It was warm and sunny, and they counted 46 Brimstones on the wing in a 4-hour period during the middle of the day. The butterflies were diving into dense ivy undergowth towards the end of the period and hopfully will survive there during the anticipated coming cold spell. Stephen also saw 5 Small Tortoiseshells, as well as Peacocks, Red Admirals and Commas, and a single Small White.
 
14.3.07 Yesterday I saw my first butterfly of 2007. A male Brimstone was one rapid patrol, passing though our garden. Today I saw the same or another one, and also a Peacock, which took nectar from some flowering primulas. And this evening I saw a Small Tortoiseshell in good condition flying in Duxford Church, Cambs.

 
13.3.07 The Times carried an article today quoting Tim Sparks of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology saying "I tend to think of hawthorn being in leaf as a sign of spring and once I've seen a Holly Blue butterfly I know it's really here." Today Geoff Jones emailed to say that a Holly Blue had been seen in a garden in Hampshire last weekend, 10-11.3.07. So spring is already here! A Small White has also been seen in Hampshire at the weekend.
 
12.3.07 There have been several reports of Brimstones about last week, including at least 6 together in a field near the River Cam north of Cambridge, and several at Sawston Hall. Stephen Gilbert and his son were again the reporters.
 
2.3.07 On a mild, sunny day today at Fanham's Hall, Stephen saw 3 Red Admirals (nectaring on mahonia), 2 Commas, a Peacock and a male Brimstone and he got photographic proof of them all. Here are Stephen's photos of the Peacock and one of the Commas.

 
15.2.07 More Red Admirals have been seen, the most recent one I have heard of was today at Diss in Norfolk.
 
2.2.07 Stephen Gilbert took this photo of a Red Admiral at Fanham's Hall, Hertfordshire on Candlemas Day. He saw it nectaring on a winter-flowering viburnum.
 

 
21.1.07 Another sunny and relatively warm day and, sure enough, Bernie Breton spotted a Red Admiral flying past his conservatory in Great Shelford at about 1 pm.
 
20.1.07 Yesterday, Saturday,was also a sunny but cold day, following two very windy days on Thursday and Friday with widespread gale damage. I have not yet had any reports of butterflies since the winds, but Stephen Gilbert has told me of repeated Red Admiral sightings before then. Stephen and his son saw no less than 6 Red Admirals on the wing at Sawston Hall, Cambridgeshire, on New Year's Day, at about 1pm. They have also seen several more and a Comma on different days between 1.1.07 and 16.1.07 at Sawston Hall, Fanham's Hall and in the Wandlebury Nature Reserve south of Cambridge. Since writing the above, I have had an email from Geoff Jones that a Brimstone was seen flying in mid-Hampshire on 14.1.07. So the adult hibernators Brimstone, Peacock, Painted Lady, Comma and Red Admiral have now all been seen on the wing this year.
 
BC's website also reports that a Speckled Wood was seen in Cornwall on 16.1.07. This is unusual because Speckled Woods are thought to spend the winter either as caterpillars or chrysalises, and their chrysalises usually remain dormant until April.
 
3.1.07 In his column Nature Notes in today's Times, Derwent May comments on the survival rate of overwintering Red Admirals. He speculates that those on the wing now may not find it easy to go back into hibernation and are unlikely to survive the winter. It would be interesting to collect evidence on this. Can anyone provide any?
 
1.1.07 So far I have received three reports of Red Admiral sightings on New Year's Day. Bernie Breton saw one outside his conservatory in Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire, at about 12 noon and Geoff Jones has passed on sightings at two different places in the New Forest at about 1 pm.
 
Also on New Year's Day, Butterfly Conservation's website records that a Peacock was seen in Berkshire and several Painted Ladies in different counties. Curiously, no Red Admiral is listed as having been seen.
 
22.12.06 The last sightings of 2006 that I have heard about are a Peacock and Red Admirals at Titchfield Haven NNR (also reported to me by Geoff Jones).
 
18.12.06 Geoff emailed from Lee on the Solent that he had seen a Red Admiral on the wing on the 18th December.
 
17.12.06 The last sighting of 2006 in my area is by Stephen Gilbert, who saw 4 Red Admirals on the wing at Sawston Hall, Cambridgeshire, on a cold, sunny day, about 1pm. The same butterflies were also seen basking, and two were watched tumbling together, but none was seen to take nectar, although this was available. Stephen also saw two Red Admirals in my garden at Ickleton, Cambs. in similar weather conditions the previous day, 16.12.06.
 
6.12.06 Earlier in December, in bright sunshine, Stephen saw two Red Admirals, both slightly worn, nectaring on Viburnum davidii at Fanham's Hall, Hertfordshire.
 
2.12.06 In my region, I had expected that the last sighting this year would have been a Red Admiral seen in a garden in Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire. Bernie Breton, the computer expert who set up this website for me, was the observer.
My own last sighting for 2006 was the faded Red Admiral that I saw in winter sunshine in a courtyard garden at Marshfield, near Bath, at about 1 pm on 26.11.06. I was staying there following the AGM of Butterfly Conservation at Bristol on 25.11.06.
 
 
 
 
RECENT PHOTOS
 
First snowdrops, Ickleton, Cambs. 14.1.07
First crocuses, Ickleton, Cambs. 15.1.07

Clouded Yellow (m) at Chiddingfold, Surrey, 7.10.06
Red Admirals at Ickleton, Cambs, 12.10.06

Small Copper at Hinxton, Cambs, 14.10.06
Comma at Ickleton, Cambs, 15.10.06

Painted Lady at Savill Garden, Windsor, 3.10.06
Red Admiral at Ickleton, Cambs, 21.10.06

Another fresh Red Admiral was sunning itself and a Rhododendron was already in bloom at Blickling on 29.10.06.

I was surprised to see yet another Red Admiral still on the wing in my garden on All Souls Day, 2.11.06. There had been a sharp frost overnight and the air temperature when I took the photos at 11 am was only 5 deg C. The butterfly divided its time between feeding on rotting apples, basking on a tree trunk, and flying fast in large circles.
Following two more frosty nights, we have had two more sunny days. On 4.11.06, a badly battered Red Admiral settled in a sunny spot in the garden for a few minutes at midday before disappearing as quickly as it had arrived.
Guy Fawkes Day, 5.11.06. The bright, cold autumnal days have continued. Today I saw a fresh Peacock flying along a sunny, south-facing hedgerow in Hunts Lane, Hinxton, Cambs. This is my jogging route and I did not have a camera to capture the occasion. On returning 30 minutes later, there was no sign of it.
Other last sightings in my area in 2006:
Stephen Gilbert saw two Red Admirals in our garden at Ickleton, Cambridgeshire, on 18.11.06 on a crisp, sunny morning although with a chill wind. They settled on an apple tree in full sunshine between 1 and 2 pm. Stephen also saw a Brimstone and several Red Admirals at Sawston Hall, Cambridgeshire, on 15.11.06 and a Comma and Red Admirals at Fanhams Hall, near Ware, Hertfordshire, also on 15.11.06.