Pete's Walks - Long-tailed Blue
Photo taken 21/08/26 at Portsdown Hill, Hampshire
I went down to Hampshire in August 2026 to see this butterfly. It's the second species of butterfly that I've seen that is not one of the 59 breeding species of butterfly in Great Britain (there is a 60th species, the Cryptic Wood White, that can be seen in Northern Ireland), the other being the Queen of Spain Fritillary (which I saw 11 days earlier, also in Hampshire). Small numbers of Long-tailed Blues are seen here every year (they're a Mediterranean species), but the long series of heatwaves in 2026 attracted far more than usual (the same was true of other migrant species, including Painted Lady, Clouded Yellow, Queen of Spain Fritillary and the Hummingbird Hawkmoth).
Photo taken 21/08/26 at Portsdown Hill, Hampshire
Photo taken 21/08/26 at Portsdown Hill, Hampshire
Photo taken 21/08/26 at Portsdown Hill, Hampshire