Butterfly & Moth Watching Holidays

Butterflies are the most-loved insects in the world. Delicate and intricately beautiful, yet capable of monumental migrations, they capture human imaginations wherever they occur. Though the closely related moths vastly outnumber them, around 17,500 butterfly species have been described in six families.

Most of our butterfly-watching tours are to Europe, where butterflies are diverse and beautiful but sufficiently similar to British species to be identified with ease. All through Southern Europe meadows, mountains, dunes and heaths are home to wonderful butterflies, including a fantastic variety of blues, fritillaries and skippers. In the Dordogne, our tours encounter small pearl-bordered fritillary, false ringlet, large chequered skipper, Cleopatra, southern white admiral, map and a host of other mouthwatering species.

Far to the east, in Southern Poland, we explore a wonderful range of acid and alkaline habitats for their butterflies. In the limestone valleys of the Jurassic Hills we look for eastern baton and Reverdin’s blues, sooty and scarce coppers, ilex and blue-spot hairstreaks, and Queen of Spain and Niobe fritillaries, among countless others. By contrast, the Pieniny Mountains support Pallas’s fritillary, Apollo, Camberwell beauty, lesser purple emperor, yellow-legged tortoiseshell and more.

Even further afield we can take you to Mexico, to witness one of the world’s great butterfly spectacles, as each year millions of monarch butterflies gather in the highlands of Central Mexico, at the southernmost point of their astounding multi-generational migration.

Southern white admiral

The striking southern white admiral butterfly can be distinguished from the more widespread white admiral by the velvety blue bloom on its black upperwing and the single row of black dots along the trailing edge of its underwing. The caterpillars of both species feed on honeysuckle. If you would like to see the southern white admiral, then consider our tour to the Dordogne in spring and the Rhodopes in Bulgaria during early summer.

Small pearl-bordered fritillary

With a wide distribution in Europe and North America, the dazzling small pearl-bordered fritillary has nonetheless declined hugely across its range as damp grassland and other ancient habitats have been lost. This species’ small, spiky caterpillars feed, like many other fritillary caterpillars, on violets. Small pearl-bordered fritillaries may be seen on our holidays to the Dordogne in June, Southern Poland in July and Devon in Summer.

Monarch

The gorgeous monarch is perhaps the best known and most loved insect on earth, famed for its migrations, in successive generations each year, north and south across the North American continent. Monarch caterpillars feed on toxic milkweeds. Vast winter roosts of monarchs may be seen on our trips to Mexico, while close relatives, often called tigers, can be seen on our tours across Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Map butterfly

The map butterfly is best known for having two very different generations each year, both of great beauty. The spring generation is orange, with the appearance of a tortoiseshell, whereas the summer generation is largely black, looking like an admiral. Like many of its relatives, the map butterfly lays its eggs on stinging nettle. This beautiful butterfly can be seen on our Butterflies, Birds & Wildflowers of the Dordogne small group tour.

Apollo

The dramatically beautiful Apollo is a butterfly of montane pastures right across Europe and Asia. The bold red eyes on its hindwings gave the species its earlier English name, crimson-ringed. Apollo caterpillars are black with lines of orange spots and are almost as beautiful as the adults. They feed on succulent, rock-loving plants such as stonecrops. The Apollo can be seen on our butterfly & moth watching holidays to Bulgaria and Poland.

Lesser purple emperor

The lustrous lesser purple emperor is found widely across Europe and Asia. Males are often distinguishable from purple emperors by the copper cast to their wings, though details of pattern are needed to secure identification. Lesser purple emperors can be seen on in the Dordogne, and together with purple emperors in the Pieniny Mountains of Southern Poland. In Melnik, Bulgaria, the much rarer Freyer’s purple emperor is seen.