Six of my favourite photos I took in June 2025 and month summary
The photos are of; Puffin on Skomer Island, view at Marloes Sands, Grey Seal on a walk from Strumble Head, red bartsia at Durlston, Comma at West Wood and Black-and-yellow Longhorn beetle on hogweed at Lakeside.
Pulsating views of Peregrines in Pembrokeshire, at Durlston and the stunning surprise chicks in Winchester and riveting views of elegant Ringlet butterflies were two key species of another wonderful wild month. One of my best ever months I'd say with how many amazing things we packed in. The Pembrokeshire trip to start the month was one the most amazing times of my year as we were spellbound watching immense numbers of pristine Puffins, cheerful Choughs, mesmerising Manx Shearwaters, Guillemots, Razorbills, Kittiwakes, Gannets, Fulmars, Spotted Flycatchers, Wheatears, Swallows, Rock and Meadow Pipits and an exciting first for us seeing the Bluethroat at Slimbridge alongside Common Cranes and Shelduck ducklings on the way home. We had breathtaking views of Grey Seals and butterflies Wall Brown, Green Hairstreak and Large Skipper, Common Nettle-tap moth and White-spotted Sable moths, Lackey moth caterpillar, Four-spotted Chaser dragonfly, our first ever Striped Millipede, Knotgrass leaf beetle and Bloody-nosed beetles brought insect flair to the week. Flowers like sheep’s-bit, English stonecrop, biting stonecrop, wall pennywort, foxgloves, thrift, squill and sea and red campion helped make it a colourful week. As did the gorgeous coastal, woodland, wetland and rural views in some great bits of sun.
There were great bird sightings for the rest of the month as we were lucky to see rare Stone Curlews in northern Hampshire on a guided walk with Naturetrek on June 1st, see and hear our surprise first ever Wood Warbler in the New Forest, see the White Storks at Knepp again and a thrilling Lesser Whitethroat and see Guillemots, Razorbills, Shag and other seabirds again as well as Whitethroat and Yellowhammer on the big Durlston day trip. Common Tern, Kingfisher, Swallow, House Martin, Grey Wagtail, Sparrowhawk and Stock Dove were top sightings on patch at Lakeside Country Park where the Great Crested Grebes are on the nest for a third time this year. Wren, Swifts including a lot in Winchester and the raptor trio Red Kite, Buzzard and Kestrel were good constants throughout the month. Hobby, Jays, Tree Pipit, juvenile Robins, Greenfinch, Siskin, Blackcap, Sedge Warbler and Stonechat were other standouts species this month. There were nice moments seeing Grey Squirrel at Lakeside.
My butterfly year reached new heights this month with exquisite summer species I was lucky to see like delicate Purple Hairstreaks and wondrous Purple Emperors drifting around the tree tops in Hampshire and seen intimately at Knepp, Silver-washed Fritillaries, Dark Green Fritillary, White Admiral, Marbled Whites and exquisite Lulworth Skippers. Large White, Green-veined White, Speckled Wood, Common Blue, Silver-studded Blue, Dingy Skipper, Grizzled Skipper, Small Skipper, Red Admiral and Comma in decent numbers, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Small Heath, and a surprise late Orange Tip at West Wood were other highlights. Six-spot Burnet, Cinnabar moth, the Lackey, Mottled and Willow Beauty, Garden Carpet, Common Lutestring, Dark Arches, Bright-line Brown-eye and stunning Scarlet Tiger moth Small Magpie were among other nice moths seen. I also enjoyed burnet and Oak Eggar moth caterpillars.
Exuberant Emperor, gorgeous Golden-ringed Dragonfly and emerging pretty Black-tailed Skimmers at Lakeside and Keeled Skimmer brought me more dragonfly joy, with Blue-tailed Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Beautiful Demoiselle and Azure Damselfly nice damselflies seen. Black-and-Yellow Longhorn beetle, Black-striped Longhorn beetle, Oedemera lurida, Swollen-thighed beetle, Abax parallelepipedus ground beetle and Common Red Soldier beetles entering my year quintessential summer sights were more brilliant beetles I enjoyed in June. Meadow Grasshopper, bees, hoverflies, hornet, cuckoo spit courtesy of froghopper nymphs, Long-bodied Cellar spider, Silver-sided Sector spider and crab spiders outdoors including one seen feeding on a fly and another possibly trying to catch a Black-and-yellow Longhorn beetle, slug, snails, limpets and the quirky sight of terrapin at Lakeside again made for other nice sights.
Other key plants observed this month included; sensational butterfly orchid, bee orchid and pyramidal orchids, hedge woundwort, self-heal, great willowherb, purple loosestrife, scarlet pimpernel, eyebright, restharrow, centaury, lesser centaury, dame's rocket, pineappleweed, slender St. John's-wort, lesser skullcap, marsh bedstraw, hairy tare, tufted vetch, meadow vetchling, enchanter’s-nightshade, knapweed, bird’s-foot trefoil, evening primrose, bell heather, lady’s bedstraw, oxeye daisies, white clover, wild parsnip, lemon balm, hop trefoil, weld, enigmatic broomrapes a revelation of my June, Yorkshire fog grass and berries like hawthorn and blackthorn sloe just starting to come through. Nice heathland, wetland, coastal and woodland views overall made it a great month of enjoying being outside on long bright days. Have a good July all.
