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Reposted by Jon Dunn

Mariposa Nature Tours @mariposanature.bsky.social · 19h

"If I were to set out to create my perfect butterfly tour then this would be it"

"I have never personally seen so many butterflies in such a short time"

"An absolutely fabulous experience"

Wonderful guest feedback for Butterflies of the Italian Alps & French Mercantour! (1/2)

#butterflies

Guest feedback for Butterflies of the Italian Alps & French Mercantour

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Jon Dunn @dunnjons.bsky.social · 2d

Like pleading, desperate hands clutching at thin air, Madre-de-louro, or Mother of laurel fungus stretches away from the trunks of laurel trees in the lush green laurisilva forests of Madeira. It's a fabulous, enigmatic fungus - its closest relative is found in Japan. #fungi

Madre-de-louro (Laurobasidium lauri) © Jon Dunn

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Mariposa Nature Tours @mariposanature.bsky.social · 2d

Your guides to a feast of fritillaries and a bonanza of blues will be our popular, knowledgeable, and friendly team of Paul Selby & Michele Viganò.

Importantly, like ALL of our butterfly tours, this one generates a donation to support the great work of @europebutterfly.bsky.social. (2/2)

Scarce Fritillary (Euphydryas maturna) © Jon Dunn

Chequered Blue (Scolitantides orion) © Clive Burrows

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Mariposa Nature Tours @mariposanature.bsky.social · 2d

Good morning, and welcome to a new week!

Our featured tour this week is Butterflies of the Italian Alps & French Mercantour, a guaranteed departure tour in June 2026 that offers the best of both butterfly worlds on either flank of the mighty Alps. (1/2)

mariposanature.com/tours/butter...

Southern Swallowtail (Papilio alexanor) © Clive Burrows

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Bruce Taylor @barrabirder.bsky.social · 3d

A freshly stranded By-The-Wind Sailor, one of many pushed ashore by strong winds on the west coast of Barra today. Lots of obvious specimens of 6-8cm scattered over the beaches but also masses of tiny ones down to 5mm in length spread along the strandline. #Beachcombing

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Jon Dunn @dunnjons.bsky.social · 3d

It’s been pure joy to spend time with Madeiran and regular Speckled Wood today. Madeiran is larger and darker and, with just a little practice, readily distinguished in flight.

Madeiran Speckled Wood (Pararge xiphia) © Jon Dunn

Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) © Jon Dunn

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Dr Richard Bate @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social · 3d

4/10/25 #Madeira - Madeira Chaffinch (Fringilla maderensis) taking a bath in a levada. Known as “tentilhão” this #bird is #endemic to this wonderful island, and is not found anywhere else is Macaronesia. My good friend @dunnjons.bsky.social standing to my right!

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Jon Dunn @dunnjons.bsky.social · 3d

It’s not all been about orchids this past 24 hours in Madeira - @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social and I have been enjoying all the wildlife. Ferns, fungi, lichen, birds and, of course, butterflies. Yesterday we met some box-fresh Long-tailed Blue.

Long-tailed Blue (Lampides boeticus) © Jon Dunn

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Jon Dunn @dunnjons.bsky.social · 3d

Thanks so much, Simon - really pleased you enjoyed it.

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Glen Ryan @silverdory.bsky.social · 5d

Leopard orchids flowering in heathland near the Genoa River, VIC. These coastal E. Gippsland plants are still widley regarded as Diuris pardina but recent revisions of the genus have suggested a return to D. maculata (spotted donkey orchid) which also grows just across the border in NSW #orchids

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Mariposa Nature Tours @mariposanature.bsky.social · 4d

Our Team Mariposa #orchid leaders never stop... Jon and Richard are wrapping up the 2025 season in the only way they know how to relax - by going to look for yet more #orchids!

You can join them both in 2026 for more orchid-hunting fun - Richard in Cyprus & Crete, and Jon in Sicily.

Jon Dunn @dunnjons.bsky.social · 4d

One of the very best days, #orchid -hunting with my good mate and fellow @mariposanature.bsky.social leader @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social in Madeira. We found over 20 flowering plants of European über-rarity, Goodyera macrophylla. A day of amazing plants, great company, good laughs, and muddy boots!

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Dr Richard Bate @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social · 4d

4/10/25 - There are always great #orchids to be seen in #Orctober but you have to put yourself out there to find them!

Goodyera macrophylla is an endemic of #Madeira and one you have to put a real shift in for! Joined by my good friend @dunnjons.bsky.social every step of the way #teamorchid

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Jon Dunn @dunnjons.bsky.social · 4d

One of the very best days, #orchid -hunting with my good mate and fellow @mariposanature.bsky.social leader @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social in Madeira. We found over 20 flowering plants of European über-rarity, Goodyera macrophylla. A day of amazing plants, great company, good laughs, and muddy boots!

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Mariposa Nature Tours @mariposanature.bsky.social · 4d

Storm Amy may be making life a bit miserable at the moment in the UK, but here's something else that begins with A to brighten and cheer your October weekend - gorgeous Ophrys annae, an #orchid from Sardinia last April.

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Helen Bennett 🌿 @helenbennett.bsky.social · 5d

One for today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme of #AllWeathers
Sharing the moment when I spotted this gorgeous Long-Tailed Silky Flycatcher eating berries in the pouring rain. We'd stopped for coffee on our journey back to the airport in Costa Rica so to see it then was so special! 💛 📷 🪶

#birds #Photography

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Sarah Lambert @sarahlambert7.bsky.social · 5d

Fly Agaric aplenty at Castor Hanglands this week, drifts of them in birch woodland along with more Red-cracking Bolete than I've ever seen, and a single young Bay Bolete with a velvety cap and swollen, fibril-covered stipe

#fungusfriday #fungifriends

Red-cracking Bolete (no blue at base of stem)

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Jon Dunn @dunnjons.bsky.social · 5d

Are Geranium Bronze getting a foothold on Jersey now, Graeme?

(Love that box-fresh Long-tailed Blue, btw! 😍)

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Jon Dunn @dunnjons.bsky.social · 5d

I think it’s time for an adventure…

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Mariposa Nature Tours @mariposanature.bsky.social · 6d

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

Today features Large Heath, inhabitant of acidic, wet peatlands mostly in the north. Since Frohawk's time it's declined badly in England and Wales; Scotland remains a stronghold to this day.

Plate 40 of FW Frohawk's 'Natural History of British Butterflies', featuring Large Heath (Coenonympha tullia)

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Jon Dunn @dunnjons.bsky.social · 6d

😂 as the old saying goes, all wild mushrooms are edible. Some of them more than once!

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Jon Dunn @dunnjons.bsky.social · 6d

Really worth a try! They’re a lovely seasonal treat right now.

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BSBI Botany @bsbibotany.bsky.social · 6d

We're delighted to welcome @markavery.bsky.social to the growing ranks of #BSBImembers!
Why not follow Mark's example & join us? We'll be equally delighted to welcome you!
Here's what you'll get when you join:
bsbipublicity.blogspot.com/2025/10/bsbi...
Already a member? Huge thanks for your support!

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Jon Dunn @dunnjons.bsky.social · 6d

I have *exactly* the same photo this evening, Caroline! 😍

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Jon Dunn @dunnjons.bsky.social · 6d

Out into the woods this afternoon. Some really pleasing Fly Agaric on the forest floor and, once they’ve been roasted, some pleasing Sweet Chestnut too.

Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria) © Jon Dunn

Sweet Chestnut (Castanea sativa) © Jon Dunn

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Bruce Taylor @barrabirder.bsky.social · 7d

Freshly ashore today and covered in barnacles, this Coconut on the west side of Vatersay is the only transatlantic vagrant we've found so far this week. #Beachcombing

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