Jon Dunn

Cream-coloured Courser (Cursorius cursor), Fuerteventura © Chris Lodge

Violet Copper (Lycaena helle), French Pyrenees © Clive Burrows

Ophrys lacaitae, Sicily © Michele Viganò

Carpathian Brown Bear (Ursus arctos), Romania © János Oláh

Good morning, and hello November!

There's just one month left on our early bird deal for 2026 holidays, offering £150 off the list price of any week-long tour if booked before 1 Dec 2025.

Bee orchids, birds, butterflies (or bears!), we've lots of choice!

mariposanature.com/calendar

#nature

Miguel López Munguira

We are so excited to announce that Spain's preeminent butterfly authority, Miguel López Munguira, is now part of Team Mariposa!

Miguel's vast knowledge and experience will enhance our existing Spanish tours; and he's also designing some new tours. We're over the moon! (1/2)

Halloween aside, I don’t long too much for spooky encounters but finding a Ghost #Orchid here in the UK was one I craved for over three decades

Iberian Sooty Copper (Lycaena bleusei) © Jon Dunn

Iberian Scarce Swallowtail (Iphiclides feisthamelii) © Jon Dunn

🎃 Trick or treat?! It's Halloween, and we have a HUGE announcement to make later on today! 🎃

There's a clue in the images here...

#butterflies

@europebutterfly.bsky.social

Plate 44 of FW Frohawk's 'Natural History of British Butterflies', featuring White-letter & Black Hairstreak (Satyrium w-album & Satyrium pruni)

It's #FrohawkFriday, the day we celebrate the butterfly studies & artwork of FW Frohawk.

Today features White-letter and Black Hairstreak - the former remains fairly widespread in England & Wales, the latter has declined in the past century and is a significant British rarity.

#butterflies

Ghost Orchid growing from leaf litter, 1978, photographer A. Wake

Today seems like a good day for a ghost story... 🧵

The first Ghost Orchid to be recorded in Britain was found in July 1854 by Mrs Anderton Smith in Herefordshire. Not recognising it, she picked it, and it was sent away to be identified. (1/12)

(This image, from 1978, c/o A.Wake)

Ghost Orchid (Epipogium aphyllum) summer 2024, © Dr Richard Bate

And in a 2024 postscript, my #orchid-hunting pal @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social finally tracked the woodland wraith down last year. How long will we have to wait for another haunting encounter?

Spotted Fritillary (Melitaea didyma) © Harry C

False Heath Fritillary (Melitaea diamina) © Harry C

Fritillaries of many kinds abound on our featured tour this week, Spring Butterflies of the French Pyrenees. Here are a couple (Spotted & False Heath) kindly shared by one of our guests this year. Our guests have plenty of time and space with which to pursue the perfect portrait!

#naturephotography

I’ve seen some beautiful grassland fungi for #WildFungiHour in the last few days. 🔁 from top left Mealy Pinkgill, Dark Fieldcap, Parrot Waxcaps, Persistent Waxcaps looking like flowers, Blackening Waxcaps, Poppies for #WildflowerHour & lastly gorgeous Crimson & Scarlet Waxcaps🥰

Grey Sea Slug (Aeolidia papillosa) savaging a Beadlet Anemone. Action shot.

Grey Sea Slug (Aeolidia papillosa) not only playing with its food, but actually using it as a seat too.

It's #SeaSlugDay, you say? Have a Grey Sea Slug (a travesty of an English misnomer for Aeolidia papillosa) busily eating alive a hapless Beadlet Anemone that, short-changed by evolution, couldn't run away from it. Nature red in tooth and claw (and wobbly stuff) in a rockpool on #Shetland in 2021.

The rufous flanks were starting to break through, and in good light there was a blue sheen around the eye, confirming it as a young male as I had originally thought.

The distinct head pattern was just breaking through also, still a long way to go before it is a stunning adult male. I can only hope it remains for the winter and into next spring.

On the water, and in poor light, it looked very dark, impossible to make out any colour. The white crescent at the base of the bill was the only indication that is was a young male.

One of the Harlequins Ducks I found a few weeks ago has settled down on a quiet little beach in North West Donegal and I was really fortunate to spend a bit of time with it recently. Fingers crossed now that it stays for the winter, what a glorious sight it will be in a few months.

Violet Copper (Lycaena helle) © Clive B

Violet Copper (Lycaena helle) © Clive B

Violet Copper is just one of the highlights guests on our Spring Butterflies of the French Pyrenees can look forward to seeing.

These glorious images were kindly shared with us by one of our regular guests, Clive B. We love seeing our guests' photos, and hope you do too.

#eastcoastkin #butterflies

A photograph of an adult swan and a juvenile together; the juvenile is in the foreground looking to the right as viewed while its parent is behind looking to the left. Taken on a bright sunny day with their reflections on the water that is gently rippling around them. UK

One for today's #BirdOfTheDay 'Pairs Of The Same Bird' I rarely can photograph two birds together where they are both in focus but this one isn't too bad! ☺️ 🪶 📷

Happy Tuesday everyone 🌿 🕊️👋

#birds #photography #Nature #UKWildlife #EastCoastKin #TwosDay

Dusky Heath (Coenonympha dorus) © Jon Dunn

Knapweed Fritillary (Melitaea phoebe) © Jon Dunn

The opportunities for photography, or simply enjoying the burgeoning butterfly show, are endless here in a beautiful region of France that's bursting into life in late May.

And naturally, this tour generates a donation to support the great work of @europebutterfly.bsky.social. (2/2)

Two-tailed Pasha (Charaxes jasius) © Jon Dunn

Provence Orange Tip (Anthocharis euphenoides) © Jon Dunn

Good morning and welcome to a new week!

Our featured tour this week is Spring Butterflies of the French Pyrenees - this one's an outstanding opportunity for the butterfly photographer, so fresh and numerous and varied are the species to be found. (1/2)

mariposanature.com/tours/butter...

On the subject of endemic island butterflies, guests on our Fabulous Fuerteventura tour next February can expect to enjoy close views of the island's very own charming endemic, Fuerteventura Green-striped White.

mariposanature.com/tours/wildli...

Enjoying a long weekend away in the Derbyshire Dales and taking plenty of opportunities to check out the Grassland #Fungi round here! #Waxcaps and Spindles galore, and many other #chegd beauties too! Thoroughly enjoying the #WildFungiHour

Aw, thanks Lin. 🙏 I’d never have the arrogance to call myself an experienced butterfly photographer, but sometimes a photo turns out okay!

Madeiran Speckled Wood (Pararge xiphia) © Jon Dunn

Madeiran Speckled Wood habitat © Jon Dunn

Hugely enjoyable AGM yesterday of the European Butterflies Group in Birmingham - great to catch up with so many friends, swap butterfly observations, and lay plans for the future. A presentation on Atlantic island endemism by Martin Davies was particularly thought-provoking and inspiring...

Plate 43 of FW Frohawk's 'Natural History of British Butterflies', featuring Purple Hairstreak (Favonius quercus)

It's #FrohawkFriday, the day on which we celebrate the butterfly studies & artwork of FW Frohawk.

Today features Purple Hairstreak, a glorious species that spends much of its life around the canopy of its larval foodplant, oak, looking in flight like silver coins spinning high overhead.

Shopping trolley, half submerged in black water, surrounded by fallen autumn leaves © Jon Dunn

Every autumn, millions of animals migrate south in search of warmer climes in which to overwinter.

Sadly, some don’t survive the journey. Migration is a testing time for the young and inexperienced. This Morrisons trolley won’t reach its wintering grounds, nor return to breed next spring.

Southern Swallowtail (Papilio alexanor) © Clive Burrows. A species we see on our Butterflies of the Italian Alps & French Mercantour tour.

Ophrys normanii © Michele Viganò. A species we see on our Orchids of Sardinia tour.

Ophrys lacaitae © Michele Viganò. A species we see on our Late Spring Orchids of Sicily tour.

Italian Marbled White (Melanagia arge) © Marco Bonifacino. A species we see on our Spring Butterflies in Abruzzo tour.

A small selection of the beautiful butterflies and orchids we see on our Italian mainland and island tours, to brighten a grey and stormy day here in the UK.

We love Italy and, with our superb network of local naturalists there, are expanding our range of tours across the country. Watch this space!

Chlorociboria aeruginascens - Green Elfcup

Morning... #FungiFriends

ML26938441 - White-eyed Vireo - Macaulay Library Macaulay Library ML26938441; © Alexander Lees; Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada

Thought for the day - if Great Crested Flycatcher can make it to Shetland then a White-eyed Vireo east of the Azores is not unthinkable - macaulaylibrary.org/asset/26938441 neither tyrants nor vireos are regular on boats #UKBirding

Bee-mimic robberfly Laphria aurea resting on Serapias carica tongue-orchid © Jon Dunn

Aren't robberflies amazing? Large, fast, predatory flies that inject their prey with a paralysing and digestive neurotoxin, then suck out the liquified contents. Yum.

We saw this fine example on an #orchid in Rhodes this year. Looking forward to what we find there next spring...

Greenish BlackTip (Euchloe charlonia) © Jon Dunn

Black-bellied Sandgrouse (Pterocles orientalis) © Chris Lodge

Our current tour of the week, Fabulous Fuerteventura - Birds, Butterflies & Botany, has now moved to become a guaranteed departure.

Also guaranteed is our early bird booking deal - an automatic £150 off the tour's list price if booked before 1 Dec 2025.

mariposanature.com/tours/wildli...

A photograph of a small mushroom (Lactarius quietus). It is growing on a mossy bank. It has a matt surface and is pale reddish brown in colour with darker more cinnamon flecks giving it texture. It is young and has a rounded cap that flattens with age, developing a shallow dimple in the centre. The gills/spores are just visible underneath the cap and are the pale beige. There is a droplet of oozing a creamy-white, milky substance (latex) on the cap rim and some droplets on the stem. The background is blurred showing the woodland in the distance. Found in the UK.

A tiny young Oakbug Milkcap fungi caught my eye in the woodland as the sun highlighted fresh latex exuding from it! 📷 🌿 🍄

Happy Monday everyone 🕊️

#FungiFriends #MacroMonday #Photography #Fungi #EastCoastKin #MushroomMonday #Nature #ShroomScrolling

Various fungi growing around a grave in Warstone Lane Cemetery, showing the headstone

Churchyards are important for fungi, including some of the UK's rarest
This webinar will introduce UK fungi and their roles in the natural environment
Chris Knowles is a field mycologist and member of his local fungus group He works at Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh cataloguing the fungi collection

African Blue Tit (Cyanistes teneriffae) © Chris Lodge

East Canary Gecko (Tarentola angustimentalis) © Jon Dunn

Sahara Bluetail (Ischnura saharensis) © Jon Dunn

Barbary Ground Squirrel (Atlantoxerus getulus) © Jon Dunn

There's a huge variety of fascinating birds, butterflies & plants (not to mention dragonflies and other beasties) to be seen there - every day is full of interest.

And the tour is led by our popular and knowledgeable duo of Dave Fairhurst & @jpcancela.bsky.social - a dream team! (2/2)

Cream-coloured Courser (Cursorius cursor) © Chris Lodge

Greenish Black Tip (Euchloe charlonia) © Chris Lodge

Good morning and welcome to a new week!

Our featured tour this week is Fabulous Fuerteventura - Birds, Butterflies & Botany. Set to run on 22-28 February 2026, it offers a welcome break from the cold, wet monotony of a northern European winter... (1/2)

mariposanature.com/tours/wildli...