Powerstock Common, Dorset: I’m hopeful that the mixed habitats here and bright weather will bring them out in their droves – and I’m not disappointed The recent pulse of warm, sunny weather has encouraged butterflies to fly in large numbers in Dorset. They were everywhere when I visited Powerstock Common: the moment I opened the car door, a brimstone fluttered sulphur-yellow over the parking area, lifted on a stream of blackcap song. Bright as butter in the sunshine, it’s possible that brimstones are the species that inspired the word “butterfly”. When this one settled on a hazel, its underwings merged green among the new leaves, the colours indicating it was a male. Females are much paler, sometimes almost white. Both sexes have a pair of browny-orange spots on their wings, which are foxed like the page edges of an old book. The common is one of the best places in west Dorset for butterflies, particularly the dismantled railway line where it opens out into a broad, south-facing cutting. Short, rabbit-nibbled turf dotted with low scrub merges into taller woodland, providing a fabulous mixed habitat that includes a spring-fed pond – insects need water as well as warmth. A peacock bu
May 6, 2026 → May 6, 2026
Powerstock Common, Dorset: I’m hopeful that the mixed habitats here and bright weather will bring them out in their droves – and I’m not disappointed The recent pulse of warm, sunny weather has encouraged butterflies to fly in large…
Read original at The Guardian →1 updates from 1 source.
Powerstock Common, Dorset: I’m hopeful that the mixed habitats here and bright weather will bring them out in their droves – and I’m not disappointed The recent pulse of warm, sunny weather has encouraged butterflies to…
Read original at The Guardian →What this story stands on. Tier 0 is a primary record or the subject's own words; higher tiers must be attributed, never stated as bare fact.
Powerstock Common, Dorset: I’m hopeful that the mixed habitats here and bright weather will bring them out in their droves – and I’m not disappointed The recent pulse of warm, sunny weather has encouraged butterflies to fly in large…
View source →Tier key: T0 = Primary source · T1 = Wire · T2 = Outlet report · T3 = Commentary
Dorset is home to the steep, cobbled Gold Hill, made famous by an iconic 1970s Hovis bread commercial, poet and novelist Thomas Hardy, the Jurassic Coast and a 180ft (55m) hill…
Iâve worked hard to leave the intimidation I experienced in the past. But when I met the man I wanted to marry, those childhood memories took me by surprise The bullying began…
We would like to hear about what you love about the great outdoors As summer comes and our gardens, parks and woodlands burst into life, many of us are heading outdoors.…
St Dominic, Tamar Valley: As spring progresses, the luminous beech foliage and thick cherry blossom have gone, and I find a grass snake sunning itself Rain in early May has helped…
A photographer is aiming to capture 100 portraits of centenarians - recording their stories along the way. In 2012 Kevin Wilson, from Dorchester, Dorset, photographed 20…
Major Peter Weaver was a leading member of the SAS and a "loyal teammate but a trained killer". The incredible events Weaver took part in during World War Two will feature in the…
