Tour update 🚨 The early bird gets the worm! Our Early Bird deal* on 2027 tours is proving popular - next year's tours are filling fast: A Spring in Provence is now fully booked. Spaces remain on other tours: www.mariposanature.com/calendar *£150 off if booked before 1 Dec 2026.

The king of the mountains. Vastly outnumbered this past week by its more diminutive and high altitude cousin, Small Apollo, we were nonetheless treated to some great encounters with Apollo while orchid-hunting in the French Alps on our @mariposanature.bsky.social tour.

Postcard from the field, from tour co-leader @dunnjons.bsky.social in France: That's a wrap on this year's Summer Orchids of the French Alps tour. We've seen some fabulous orchids, including the mythical Ghost Orchid, and many beautiful alpine wildflowers besides. We'll be back next year!

Today was Blue Monday, in the very best of ways, with seven species of gentian seen in flower here in the French Alps with the @mariposanature.bsky.social tour I'm co-leading with @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social.

Good morning and welcome to a new week! Our featured tour this week is Orchids of Sicily. Led by Sicilian native and naturalist legend Andrea Corso, guests will be in for a feast of outstanding orchids, great food, and local culture. www.mariposanature.com/tours/botani...

If there's more fun to be had than wandering around a mountaintop with friends looking for alpine wildflowers, I'd very much like to know about it. Today was another enjoyable day with the @mariposanature.bsky.social group I'm co-leading with my good pal @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social.

Butterfly bonus today in the French Alps at 2,700masl - some fine, fresh Silky Ringlet.

Postcard from the field from our Summer Orchids of the French Alps tour today: We spent much of the day at over 2,600masl, with some lovely, characteristic orchids of that elevation to enjoy. Frog Orchid were commonplace, while Alpine Marsh Orchid were scarcer, but also much enjoyed.

2/8/26 #France - Halfway through our Summer #Orchids of the #Alps tour and it has been a fine day botanising at altitude; many fine finds including Dactylorhiza viridis, Gentiana verna, Saxifraga oppositifolia and Soldanella alpina. Leading with @dunnjons.bsky.social

It's only taken 35 years of visiting the French Alps and Pyrenees to finally get settled views of a Peak White. A late highlight yesterday afternoon here in the Alps, all my previous sightings of this (in)famously mobile species have been butterflies zipping past at great speed.

Another day, another Ghost Orchid…

Whose Friday could do with a cheerful start? A small selection of the jewels of the Gargano Peninsula, the Ophrys bee orchids, we've encountered in the past couple of years on our Orchids of the Gargano Peninsula tour. #bloomscrolling #orchids www.mariposanature.com/tours/botani...

So, after fourteen years, we finally meet, ms Ghost. #Orchid

Well, hello you. First full day of the @mariposanature.bsky.social Summer Orchids of the French Alps tour, and we saw our first three Ghost Orchid, including this rather fine example. Massive credit to my co-leader, @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social for all his hard pre-tour work in the field.

Our portfolio of butterfly tours continues to expand, all of them generating donations to support the vital, science-led work of @europebutterfly.bsky.social. Watch this space for imminent announcements of new tours to see some of Europe's rarest butterflies. www.mariposanature.com/about/news/o...

Of course we're going to tell you that our featured Tour of the Week, Orchids of the Gargano Peninsula, is a special one. It really is. But you needn't take our word for it. You can read guest testimonials for the tour on our website, and trip reports too: www.mariposanature.com/tours/botani...

The mountains of the Hohe Tauern abounded with other wildlife besides butterflies - birds and, in particular, wildflowers were daily highlights for our @mariposanature.bsky.social guests throughout the past week.

If you like it you shoulda put a ringlet on it... We're home after our successful first Butterflies of the Hohe Tauern - Austria's Mountain Heartland tour. Over 90 species recorded, 15 of those being Erebia ringlets. The 2027 edition is long ago fully booked. 2028 dates to follow... #butterflies

The ultimate bog plant for me - Sundews. 😍 Rosettes of leaves, each with a halo of shimmering sticky beads which spell death for tiny insects, but they are undeniably beautiful. And the flowers stems uncurling as they push elegantly upwards. #wildflowerhour #wetlandplants #internationalbogday2026

Good morning and welcome to a new week! Our featured tour this week is Orchids of the Gargano Peninsula. Running next April, you can join Italian naturalist legend Andrea Corso for a week of the very best orchids Italy's natural rock garden has to offer: www.mariposanature.com/tours/botani...

Final full day of the Butterflies of the Hohe Tauern tour I'm co-leading for @mariposanature.bsky.social, and while I could post an 'obscure rarity', let's simply share this lovely pair of Dryad. Today was dripping with Dryad, bringing much joy to our group.

And sure enough, there were more Mountain Fritillary to be seen too up there in the heights yesterday. These ones making more Mountain Fritillary...

Jon Dunn@dunnjons.bsky.social · 2w ago

Another day, another mountain... Morning coffee being drunk now and looking out of the window, sizing up another day in the field with our @mariposanature.bsky.social group. There will be Mountain Fritillary, certainly. And more besides.

A fair personal shift put in today - 16 kilometres walked, almost 1,000 metres of cumulative elevation gain. And here are the two personal highlights - self-found Silky Ringlet and, most thrillingly, Swiss Brassy Ringlet. Delighted to share both with our @mariposanature.bsky.social guests.

Postcard from the field, from tour leader @dunnjons.bsky.social in Austria: To say today was a brilliant day would be an understatement - we found two new Erebia ringlets, not only the sought-after Water Ringlet, but also a colony of Swiss Brassy Ringlet, way east of its normal range.

It goes without saying that our Romania in Spring tour generates a donation to support the invaluable work of @europebutterfly.bsky.social. All of our butterfly tours do so. We're proud to have been the first company to commit to supporting this terrific, science-led conservation organisation.

Mariposa Nature Tours@mariposanature.bsky.social · 2w ago

Good morning, and welcome to a new week! Our featured tour this week is Romania in Spring, our wonderful tour that combines special Romanian butterfly highlights, including Danube Clouded Yellow, with an evening of bear-watching from a dedicated hide. www.mariposanature.com/tours/butter...

Another day, another mountain... Morning coffee being drunk now and looking out of the window, sizing up another day in the field with our @mariposanature.bsky.social group. There will be Mountain Fritillary, certainly. And more besides.

13... considered unlucky for some. But not for us! We've seen 13 species of Erebia ringlet in just four days here in Austria, the full anticipated set of this varied and attractive genus in the beautiful montane area we're exploring. @europebutterfly.bsky.social

A truly outstanding day of butterflying in Austria, with a cable car up to 2,200 metres above sea level, into the homeland of the achingly rare Austrian endemic White Speck Ringlet. Many seen with our @mariposanature.bsky.social guests, and a great many other desirable ringlets besides.

For years I studied limpets, and they quietly invaded every corner of how I think. Evolution, cognition, human prehistory, climate science… it all starts with a small mollusc on a rock. The first episode of my series « A Natural History of Limpets » is about why nature keep producing limpets !

A Natural History of Limpets, Part 1: Limpetization

In which we define the subject, and where carcinized crustaceans are humiliated.

open.substack.com

Tour update 🚨 Our 2027 orchid tours continue to steadily fill, with another booking today for Orchids of Crete meaning there are now just 4 places remaining available to book to join the ultimate orchid-hunter, @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social, there next April: www.mariposanature.com/tours/botani...