It's National Mammal Week in the UK, an annual celebration of Britain's wild mammals, and the people working to monitor, protect and restore populations of these vital species.
And NHBS are offering 10% off the price of the Britain's Mammals fieldguide:
www.nhbs.com/britains-mam...
Postcard from the field from our superb orchid-hunter tour leader @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social:
Yesterday saw the start of our #OrchidsOfCrete tour, and we're off to a flying start with some delicious Ophrys to savour from the very start. Watch this space - the coming days will be fabulous.
I cannot bloody wait to co-lead this next year with Miki!
Early Spider Orchid (Ophrys sphegodes), Kent © Jon Dunn
Early Spider Orchid (Ophrys sphegodes), Kent © Jon Dunn
What's an orchid-hunter to do when he's Italy-bound for a couple of weeks of glorious Ophrys bee orchid action? Obviously take a wander in Kent and check out the range of forms that Early Spider Orchid (Ophrys sphegodes) is exhibiting this year... and catch up with an old friend. #orchids
Italian Marbled White (Melanargia arge) © Marco Bonifacino
Yellow-banded Skipper (Pyrgus sidae) © Marco Bonifacino
Good morning and welcome to a new week.
Our featured tour is Spring Butterflies in Abruzzo. Due to a late cancellation we have one place available to join us for this delightful Italian break, generating a donation to support @europebutterfly.bsky.social. (1/2)
mariposanature.com/tours/butter...
Another Green-winged Orchid, Anacamptis morio, because I don't think you can have too many #wildflowerhour
Guest testimonials, Ophrys reinholdii, Orchids of Rhodes © Jon Dunn
This flagship tour now fills up two years in advance of running. We've laid on a second week for 2028, and that's already a guaranteed departure. And, like all our orchid tours, that guarantees a donation to support the great work of @bsbibotany.bsky.social. (2/2)
mariposanature.com/tours/botani...
Guest testimonial, and Ophrys cretica ssp beloniae x Ophrys speculum hybrid, Orchids of Rhodes © Jon Dunn
Guest testimonial, and Ophrys cretica ssp beloniae x Ophrys regis-ferdinandii hybrid, Orchids of Rhodes © Jon Dunn
If you’re thinking about a #RhodesOrchidOddity, we’ve just the tour for you - our #OrchidsOfRhodes tour is the ultimate exploration of Rhodes’ incredible array of orchid species, hybrids and variants. Our track record speaks for itself; guest testimonials speak volumes too. (1/2)
#orchids
Orchis brancifortii, Orchids of Sardinia © Michele Viganò
Postcard from the field from tour leader Michele Viganò:
Our Orchids of Sardinia tour is going well, and we've been enjoying one of the island's near-endemics, the delicate Orchis brancifortii, restricted to Sardinia, Sicily and Calabria.
#orchids
Swallowtail (Papilio machaon), A Spring in Provence © Brian Small
Meanwhile, another postcard from the field from Provence, from tour leader Brian Small:
Fine weather here and we've been enjoying some freshly emerged butterflies, in addition to yet more fine birding. Swallowtail in particular never fail to impress. #butterflies
Spring Ringlet (Erebia epistygne), Butterflies of Central & Northern Spain © Juan Pablo Cancela
Postcard from the field, from tour leader @jpcancela.bsky.social:
It's arrivals day for our Butterflies of Central & Northern Spain tour, and we're off to a flying start with dozens of newly minted Spring Ringlet seen well - what a treat for us all.
@europebutterfly.bsky.social
#butterflies
Ophrys colossaea, Orchids of Rhodes © Jon Dunn
It's #ThrowbackThursday to a week ago today, enjoying the first of the season's Ophrys colossaea on Rhodes with the @mariposanature.bsky.social #OrchidsOfRhodes tour I was leading with my good pal @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social. We're both moving on to orchid-hunting pastures new this coming week...
Ophrys lepida, Orchids of Sardinia © Michele Viganò
Postcard from the field from tour leader Michele Viganò, leading our Orchids of Sardinia tour this week:
If ever an orchid lived up to the billing of its name, it's Sardinian endemic Ophrys lepida, 'lepida' meaning elegant or beautiful. This one was enjoyed by our group yesterday.
#orchids
Great news, albeit not surprising - Sardinia is a renowned European orchid hotspot. I can't wait to co-lead this tour next spring with my good mate, Italian orchid-hunter Miki Viganò.
“Ferrugitives” - genius. 👏
False Dewy Ringlet (Erebia sthennyo), Butterflies of the Hautes Pyrenees © Jon Dunn
Gavarnie Ringlet (Erebia gorgone), Butterflies of the Hautes Pyrenees © Jon Dunn
Lefebvre's Ringlet (Erebia lefebvrei), Butterflies of the Hautes Pyrenees © Jon Dunn
As Beyoncé might have sung had she only spent some time hanging out with Erebia, if you like it then you shoulda put a ringlet on it.
Erebia ringlets are a particular highlight of our tour in the Hautes Pyrenees, with some special species to be found there.
www.mariposanature.com/tours/butter...
See you there, matey!
Ophrys bombyliflora x Ophrys rhodia hybrid, Orchids of Rhodes © Jon Dunn
Another fine hybrid #orchid from Rhodes last week, again involving the eponymous Ophrys rhodia as a parent. On this occasion, the other parent was the tiny Ophrys bombyliflora, creating a tiny-flowered hybrid with aspects of both parents' morphology jumbled up within it.
Ophrys annae, Orchids of Sardinia © Michele Viganò
The postcards from the field are coming thick and fast at the moment as Team Mariposa has tours operating across southern Europe presently!
Here's another from Orchids of Sardinia, sent today by tour leader Michele Viganò - a lovely near-endemic, Ophrys annae. 😍
Crested Tit (Lophophanes cristatus) © Brian Small
Postcard from the field from tour co-leader @cach22.bsky.social:
Our A Spring in Provence tour has enjoyed still more fabulous birding encounters today, not least with charismatic Crested Tit, a small bird with a huge personality.
Gymnadenia gabasiana, Hautes Pyrenees © Jon Dunn
Dactylorhiza traunsteinerii, Hautes Pyrenees © Jon Dunn
Our featured tour of the week, Butterflies of the Hautes Pyrenees with Kate Humble, is of course primarily about #butterflies but, like on all of our tours, we enjoy the other natural history we find too - including some rather lovely #orchids.
www.mariposanature.com/tours/butter...
Hardback copy of How Flowers Made Our World: The Story Of Nature's Revolutionaries by David George Haskell.
He's done it again. No-one writes on nature quite like @dghaskell.bsky.social. What he did for trees in The Songs Of Trees he does here for flowering plants. One of the most important - and most difficult - things in nature writing is conveying scale and depth, and Haskell is an absolute master.
Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus), A Spring in Provence © Brian Small
Ashy-headed Wagtail (Motacilla flava cinereocapilla), A Spring in Provence © Brian Small
Postcard from the field, from tour leaders Dave Fairhurst & Brian Small in southern France:
Our A Spring in Provence tour is under way, and we've spent a wonderful day in the wetlands of the Camargue, with masses of birds on show. More birds, butterflies, wildflowers to follow in the coming days...
On the subject of tours I cannot wait to co-lead, I'm already looking forward immensely to Orchids of Sardinia next year...
mariposanature.com/tours/botani...
#orchids
Foulquier's Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus bellieri), Butterflies of the Hautes Pyrenees © Jon Dunn
Gavarnie Blue (Agriades pyrenaicus), Butterflies of the Hautes Pyrenees © Jon Dunn
Tour update 🚨
Things move fast around here... There's now just one place left available to join our Butterflies of the Hautes Pyrenees with Kate Humble tour.
Home to an enticing array of montane #butterflies, this is a spectacular tour in every sense.
www.mariposanature.com/tours/butter...
Gavarnie Ringlet (Erebia gorgone) © Jon Dunn
Purple-edged Copper (Lycaena hippothoe) © Jon Dunn
Apollo (Parnassius apollo) © Jon Dunn
Catalonian Furry Blue (Polyommatus fulgens) © Jon Dunn
The Hautes Pyrenees are a stunningly beautiful montane area, and home to a magnificent variety of #butterflies, including some fine endemics and near-endemics. We explore both French and Spanish sides of the mountains, at a relaxed pace ideal for photography. (2/2)
I can't wait to co-lead this wonderful tour this summer with my dear friend Kate joining us - she's fabulous company, and will make a brilliant week of butterflies in some of Europe's most outstanding landscapes all the more enjoyable.
Ophrys normanii x Ophrys chestermanii hybrid, Orchids of Sardinia © Michele Viganò
Postcard from the field from Sardinia, where Michele Viganò is leading our Orchids of Sardinia tour this week:
Yesterday, joined by acclaimed European orchid expert Helmut Presser, we recorded 16 species, and found the achingly rare hybrid Ophrys normanii x O. chestermanii.
#orchids
Naked Man Orchid (Orchis italica) © Jon Dunn
Ophrys calypsus © Jon Dunn
Tour update 🚨
Our flagship Orchids of Rhodes tour now books up years in advance, and no wonder - nobody knows the island's orchids, their hybrids, and colour varieties better than us.
Another place on our 2028 tour filled today...
mariposanature.com/tours/botani...
Violet Limodore in woodland on the Greek island, Rhodes. Seen on Mariposa's Orchids of Rhodes tour.
My #woodlandplants for this week's #wildflowerhour are these stunning orchids - Violet Limodore.
Sadly, not a UK plant, but they really are too gorgeous not to share - look at them!! 😍
One of many fabulous plants seen with @mariposanature.bsky.social on their exceptional #OrchidsofRhodes tour.