Postcard from the field from tour co-leader @dunnjons.bsky.social in Andalusia today with our group - the first African pioneer butterfly species target of the week was just where we expected to find it.

Jon Dunn@dunnjons.bsky.social · 15h ago

And we're under way with the 2026 Autumn Exotica in Andalusia I'm delighted to be co-leading alongside my Team Mariposa counterparts David Moore and legendary Spanish lepidopterist Miguel Munguira. Today, lovely views of Desert Orange Tip to welcome us to the area.

Good morning and welcome to a new week! Our featured tour this week is Orchids of Tenerife, led by the brilliant orchid-hunter @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social. It's a fine way to break the winter doldrums with an array of very special island orchids. www.mariposanature.com/tours/botani...

Thank you for sharing your favourite plants for the last weekly challenge of 2026! I do hope you have enjoyed them! We will be having a short break before the winter challenge starts but fear not #wildflowerhour still continues each Sunday 8-9pm, see you all then! 🥰

Jelltex@jelltex.bsky.social · 2d ago

No competition this year for my #FavouritePlant, please #WildflowerHour, please enjoy, once again, Ophrys fuciflora var. flavescens. From Kent, obvs. #Orchid

Ok So, #FavouritePlant #WildflowerHour Is over so I can post my REAL favourite flower of the year, because it was not (sadly!) In UK. How about THiS. Courtesy of @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social @dunnjons.bsky.social And @mariposanature.bsky.social Can"t be bettered.

This Late Spider Orchid definitely deserves a place among my #favouriteplant of 2026. I captured this beauty during the fabulous #OrchidOfKent tour with @mariposanature.bsky.social earlier this year. What a memorable encounter! 💚 #WildflowerHour

Can I have a third #FavouritePlant for #WildflowerHour? 😅 I joined @dunnjons.bsky.social and @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social on one of their brilliant Kent orchid tours this year, and saw a Late Spider orchid for my first time. We also found a magnificent v. flavescens, and reached 14 different orchids!

For the #wildflowerhour #favouriteplant challenge 2026, I'm probably going to choose this lovely patch of Coralroot #Orchids (Corallorhiza trifida) from the dunes of South Cumbria. They were absolutely magnificent 🥰

"A total of 106 species including 10 Erebia ringlets was beyond our expectations, and all against a backdrop of spectacular mountain scenery" More lovely feedback for Butterflies of the Hautes Pyrenees. Thank you Chris & Sheila!

We're not meant to have favourites, but we all do... and this week, our friends at @wildflowerhour.bsky.social have given us all a free pass to share the wildflower finds that made our spirits soar this past year. So this Sunday evening, share your #FavouritePlant of 2026 for #WildflowerHour.

wildflowerhour@wildflowerhour.bsky.social · 5d ago

For the last weekly challenge, we want to know what was your favourite plant that you’ve spotted from across Britain and Ireland this year? Share your pics for #wildflowerhour this Sunday 8-9pm using the hashtag #favouriteplant and we’ll celebrate it with you! 🥳🌿🌸

"Richly rewarded with rare Erebias and local specialities, evidence of the extensive site research that had been done" A lovely testimonial from a guest for our current featured tour of the week, Butterflies of the Hautes Pyrenees. Thank you, Harry! www.mariposanature.com/tours/butter...

We're getting ready for the next tour of our 2026 season, Autumn Exotica in Andalusia, where we'll be joined by Spanish butterfly scientist legend Miguel Munguira. Last year we found one of the first mainland European records of Desert Babul Blue. What surprises will this year's tour provide?!

Tour update 🚨 The last place on Spring Butterflies in Abruzzo was taken today, making that the 16th of our 2027 tours to be fully booked. Places remain on other 2027 tours... Full details here on our website: www.mariposanature.com/calendar

Good morning & welcome to a new week! Our featured tour this week is Butterflies of the Hautes Pyrenees. Co-led by European butterfly conservation expert Chris van Swaay, and generating a donation to @europebutterfly.bsky.social, it's a very special tour: www.mariposanature.com/tours/butter...

A wonderful #wildflowerhour tonight, huge thanks to everyone that took part in the #fruits challenge - the hedgerows are burgeoning despite the recent drought conditions! Keep a lookout for the next theme and see you all again next Sunday! ☺️

VenetiaJane’s Garden@venetiajane.bsky.social · last wk.

“Earth’s flaunting flower of passion fadeth fair To ripening fruit in sunlit veils of the air…” #Fruits found for #WildflowerHour: rose hips, elderberries, white bryony berries, snowberries, crab apples, sloes, haws, blackberries, dogwood berries, holly berries, sweet chestnuts.

New tour alert! 📢 We don't rest on our laurels here at Team Mariposa. Designed by our amazing Spanish butterfly scientist duo of Miguel Munguira & Juan Pablo Cancela, we're thrilled to announce our unique and exclusive Butterflies of Val d'Aran tour: www.mariposanature.com/tours/butter...

Ooh. Feeling fruity? We certainly are, as the hedgerows burst with colour and juicy goodness. Whether you're a peckish Blackbird or a dedicated @wildflowerhour.bsky.social participant, there are treasures out there to be found in the coming week's #wildflowerhour #fruits challenge. 🫐

wildflowerhour@wildflowerhour.bsky.social · 2w ago

Hips, haws, nuts and berries! It’s starting to look a bit autumnal out there! So this week’s challenge is #fruits! Share your finds of wild & naturalised fruits for #wildflowerhour this Sunday 8-9pm. Happy fruit hunting! ☺️🍒

Tuesday's #Twosday - we've two 2027 tours with two places apiece left available to join us. #2 - Orchids of Cyprus is a chance to join ultimate orchid-hunter, Richard Bate, for a feast of Cypriot #orchids, and generates a donation to @bsbibotany.bsky.social: www.mariposanature.com/tours/botani...

Tuesday's #Twosday - we've two 2027 tours with two places apiece left available to join us. #1 - Butterflies of the Italian Alps & French Mercantour is an extremely popular, butterfly-rich tour, and generates a donation to @europebutterfly.bsky.social: www.mariposanature.com/tours/butter...

Tour update 🚨 Spring Butterflies in the French Pyrenees next May now moves to guaranteed departure status. Also guaranteed, like all of our butterfly tours, is a donation to support the brilliant work of @europebutterfly.bsky.social. www.mariposanature.com/tours/butter...

Good morning & welcome to a new week! Our featured tour is Spring Butterflies in Andalusia. It's is a wonderful way to start spring with a flourish, immersed in the colourful and special butterflies of this lovely region of Spain. @europebutterfly.bsky.social www.mariposanature.com/tours/butter...

Corr!!! What an amazing #wildflowerhour!! Huge thanks to you all for brightening a soggy Sunday night with your gorgeous pics!! So many posts tonight, I’ll carry on reposting throughout the week! Not many challenges left now, keep a lookout for the next one! ☺️

Stevie P@stevieparsons.bsky.social · 2w ago

Some #SeedHeads found on Chesil Beach this weekend. See ALT text. #WildflowerHour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

Spotted this beautiful Green Veined White this morning. Here in Sheffield I rarely see a butterfly after the end of September. So I'm making the most while I can!

Lest anyone think that a superb array of spring butterflies including some very choice Italian specialties weren't reason enough to join Team Mariposa in Abruzzo next spring, the orchids there are also numerous and very enticing too...

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

Tour update 🚨 Now just one place left available to join us for Spring Butterflies in Abruzzo next year, led by the brilliant Italian naturalist & photographer Michele Viganò, and Mariposa founder David Moore. Who's going to secure that coveted spot?! www.mariposanature.com/tours/butter...

Postcard from the field from tour leader @dunnjons.bsky.social: Jon's been in Romania working with our good friends & collaborators Sakertours on their Romania Mammal tour. If you fancy joining Saker for the ultimate European mammal tour in 2027, here's the link: www.sakertour.com/mammal-watch...

Romania Mammal Tour - SAKERTOURS

Europe's top mammal watching tour! Come and join us!

sakertour.com

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

An excellent final small mammal session on the Romanian plains this morning saw several new species recorded - highlights being Common Hamster and Bicolored Shrew - and a return of a perennial favourite, Eurasian Harvest Mouse. The shrew was the 55th mammal species we've recorded this week.

Tour update 🚨 Now just one place left available to join us for Spring Butterflies in Abruzzo next year, led by the brilliant Italian naturalist & photographer Michele Viganò, and Mariposa founder David Moore. Who's going to secure that coveted spot?! www.mariposanature.com/tours/butter...

We just published a new issue of #BritishandIrishBotany, our Open Access online scientific journal. Find out about the 10 papers from authors inc @astridbiddle.bsky.social, Jo Jones from @plantlifeuk.bsky.social, Tim Rich, John Richards, Andy Amphlett, Chris Preston & more: bsbi.org/about/news/l...

This was in the wake of the superb find of Ghost Orchid in the UK by our brilliant orchid leader @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social. If you'd like to join Richard for an orchid-hunting holiday in Europe next year, you'll find tours with availability on our tour calendar: mariposanature.com/calendar

Tour Calender | Mariposa Nature Tours

Our tour calender has all upcoming tour dates in one place, making it easier than ever to plan your holiday.

mariposanature.com

Dr Richard Bate@thenewgalaxy.bsky.social · 3w ago

Two years ago I was invited onto BBC News at 6 and World Today to discuss my sighting of a Ghost Orchid (Epipogium aphyllum) in the UK Both 2025 & 2026 have been unusually warm, dry summers; there's little chance of seeing one in such years www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUyA... @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Tour update 🚨 Things move fast around here. Another booking received overnight means the 2027 edition of Spring Butterflies in Abruzzo now has just 2 places left available to join us for a week of very special Italian butterflies indeed: www.mariposanature.com/tours/butter...

Tour update 🚨 Two more places secured on next year's Spring Butterflies in Abruzzo today means there are just 3 places left available to join a genuinely renowned Italian naturalist legend and wildlife photographer, Michele Viganò, there in May 2027. www.mariposanature.com/tours/butter...

'The French Alps is a truly wonderful destination. Paul and Brian were excellent leaders. I can thoroughly recommend this trip' A lovely testimonial from one of our guests on the record-breaking Butterflies of the French Alps tour. Thank you, Dave!