Some more Borders Butterflies

In addition to the fabulous butterflies I saw this year on our property, I went on a few trips around the Borders to look for other species.

On 10th May I drove over to the Berwickshire Coast to look for Small Blue butterflies. These are such endearing wee butterflies that I feel it is well worth the drive over to see them.

The day I had chosen to do this turned out to be a lovely sunny day, although there was a cool wind coming in over the sea. However, I still managed to see about 35 Small Blues as well as a good variety of other butterflies.

I had heard that Green Hairstreaks had been seen in a location a few miles from where I live. So on 18th May I went for a walk up a lovely forestry track that I have often driven past previously. I had always thought that it looked as though it could be an interesting walk and a few years ago the trees were felled in the area, opening it up. Again, I was blessed with good weather and I was really excited to spot a Painted Lady on my way up the track. This was the first one I had seen since 2022, although it only landed for a couple of seconds and then it disappeared across the hillside. At the top of the hill a large area had been planted with young Spruce trees, but there was a clear edge to the plantation, which I followed.

This looked good, as everywhere else I have seen Green Hairstreaks there has been Blaeberry growing with conifer trees behind it. Eventually I spotted a small butterfly flying around which turned out to be a Green Hairstreak when it landed.

In a short time I spotted at least six of them there. I am a little concerned that the area may become shaded as the trees grow up, but hopefully there is sufficient space to allow the sun to still get there.

I volunteered to do some Northern Brown Argus surveys in the local area this year. This involved a visit to the valley above our house on the 6 June and the 15th June to count butterflies and eggs. They still seem to be doing well there, but the Rockrose is becoming more and more overgrown as grazing was stopped there about 20 years ago.

I also visited the next small valley a little further up the road on the 21st June where I spotted a couple of Northern Brown Argus, despite there being very little suitable habitat remaining. I think I will have to go and check for hidden clearings behind the trees next year.

I had also volunteered to survey Small Pear-bordered Fritillary in the area, so I was able to combine this with the Northern Brown Argus surveys. There are a few in the small valley above our house and some others in the other valley a bit further up.

The big question was are these isolated colonies, or one continuous colony. I am not sure what the answer is. They were certainly all along the other valley and I saw a few when I was clambering back over the hill towards our valley.

As I mentioned in my previous post, most years I see one or two Scotch Argus on our land. This has always intrigued me and I have always suspected that there is a local colony and I am seeing strays from that colony. So, on the 2nd August I went for a walk along the valley up the road. When I had been looking for Small Pear-bordered Fritillaries I had seen a few places where I imagined Scotch Argus could occur.

And I was delighted that at the first one of these locations I spotted two dark butterflies, which on closer inspection were Scotch Argus. A little further along and I saw another. I climbed up off the track and found grassy area where I found about 15 more Scotch Argus.

About another 500 metres further along the path I found another in a very unlikely location - an area of dry stumps and branches where some Spruce trees had been cleared. When I got to the end of the valley I had the choice of a very steep climb up out of the valley or turning around and retracing my steps. Luckily, I chose the steep climb, because as I walked down to the stream I spotted some more Scotch Argus. Once on the other side there were loads. I counted more than 80 in that area. 

And towards the top of the very steep slope I found two more. I was so delighted to have found so many Scotch Argus locally in an area where they haven't previously been recorded. However, best was yet to come, as I descended into our valley I saw another six Scotch Argus along a grassy area near where I normally see the Northern Brown Argus.

So, it seems they occur in quite a few places locally. Now I am thinking I will need to go and look for them in the other direction next year.

We were blessed with great weather this summer, so I was able to go out at the weekends to search for butterflies. So often in the past I plan to go on a butterfly hunt, only for the weather not to be good enough for them to be flying. It really was a great year.

Borders Garden Butterflies 2025

The weather was fantastic here in 2025. After a very wet 2024 it was so lovely having dry and sunny weather. We didn't have the drought seen in England and we had just enough morning dew and occasional shower to keep the grass and wild flowers growing.

I record butterflies all the time when I am outside on our property, taking the dogs for a walk, or working in the woods and then I tend to keep the records from roughly twice a week. I think this gives me something that is comparable year on year, to see how butterflies are doing. And it has been amazing seeing how things have changed over the last six years since we moved here.

I have done a lot of work in that time, removing Rhododendron, having a spruce plantation felled, planting hedges, native trees and wild flowers.

The first butterflies I see each year are those that hibernate as adults. The first butterfly I saw this year was a rather sickly looking Peacock, which I think had been tricked into waking up on an unseasonably warm day at the end of February. Peacocks went on to have the best year I have known here. Strangely my perception was that there were fewer around but the figures show otherwise!

Commas also had a great year. It is great to see them doing so well.

Red Admirals also did really well, with 2025 being the second best year since we moved here.

Many of these species feed on an orange Buddleia that flowers late in the season, up until November. I often wonder what these butterflies would feed on it I hadn't planted the Buddleia.

The Whites, or Pieridae, had a great year. The first to appear was a Small White on 8th April. They went on to have a fantastic year and I recorded 164, way up on my previous best of 99.

Later that same day I saw my first Orange Tip of the year. They also had a good year, but not quite as good as last year.

Green-veined White also had a fantastic year, with me recording more than twice the number I have seen in previous years.

And Large Whites were the best of all with me seeing more than three times the previous best count.

I was thrilled to see a Speckled Wood here on the 28th of April, which suggests that they are now breeding here. The first Speckled Wood arrived here only two years ago and it is such a thrill to have them here. I recorded 140 this year with the best count being 18 one day. This is a picture of the first one I saw this year, a particularly lightly marked individual.

And one of the last Speckled Woods I saw was unusual in only having very feint marks.

2025 was one of the better years since we moved here for Small Tortoiseshells, but I only saw 23. There is concern about the decline of this species across the UK. It is quite difficult to judge how well they are doing as an individual, as if one has laid eggs on a nettle patch it can lead to there being a high number of butterflies being seen locally. The County figures give a clearer picture on how well they are doing.

On 13th June I was delighted to see a Northern Brown Argus on my area of Rockrose. This is the third time I have seen one here over the last six years and they must fly down from the colony up the valley. Northern Brown Argus are said not to be very mobile, but this butterfly must have flown over 600 metres through thick woodland. Unfortunately, it was a male, so no chance of eggs being laid on the Rockrose this year!

As has happened every year since I moved here I saw one Small Heath in my meadow. There isn't really very much suitable habitat around, and it seems strange that each year there has been just the one!

It was a great year for Large Skippers here. This year I saw 29 with my previous maximum being 7. As well as being found in the meadow they have now moved into the new woodland I have planted where they are enjoying the uncut grass.

Small Skipper also had a good year with me counting 21. Both species of Skipper have only arrived in the area in the last 7 or 8 years.

Ringlet also had a good year. I saw 396, about twice the average number. When we first moved here they were only found in a grassy area under mature trees, they then turned up in the meadow when I started managing that and now they are found in the area of new woodland.

Meadow Browns also had a good year. Their numbers had been picking up until last year, when numbers crashed. It was good to see them doing better this year.

I had thought it was a poor year for Dark Green Fritillaries, seeing only seven. However, this number was only beaten in 2020, when I saw 12.

Wall Brown. Also only arrived here in 2023. I saw four of them this year, so numbers are slowly increasing. They seemed to enjoy the sunny bank where I have removed Rhododendron.

And now for something really exciting! I was aware that there were old records of Purple Hairstreaks from the grounds of a stately home on the other side of the river from many years ago. We have a large Oak tree on a steep slope on the other side of our pond which must be at least 200 years old. I am aware that the best time to see a Purple Hairstreak is after 6 o'clock in the evening at the top of an Oak tree in a sunny position. So, since we have moved here I have spent many a summer's evening scanning the tree through binoculars.

This year, on 13th July, I saw a couple of small butterflies flying high in the tree at 8pm. Unfortunately it isn't possible to get close to the tree for a better look, but what else could they have been at that time in the evening. 

Luckily the following evening I was able to get a photograph that was good enough to confirm they were Purple Hairstreaks. I continued to see them until the 16th August with a max of 3 flying together. It would be so interesting to know how long they have been living in this old Oak. I have been observing it for years, but never seen anything before. They have certainly been found in a lot of new locations across South East Scotland, so are they expanding their range, or are more people looking for them?

I saw two Painted Ladies here this year. It doesn't sound like many, but I hadn't seen any in 2023 and 2024, so a big improvement!

As in previous years, I saw two Scotch Argus here again. It does seem strange, as we have no Purple Moor Grass, which is the food plant of their caterpillars. However, one year I did see one laying on a finer grass species. I have always been suspicious that there is a colony close by and I am seeing strays from it here. Anyway, there will be more about this in a separate post.

I only saw two Small Coppers here late this year. I don't understand why they don't do better here. There are plenty of their food plants here, but maybe it just isn't sunny enough.

So, overall it was a great year for butterflies here. No doubt the weather played a big part in this, but I would like to think that all of my efforts to create good habitat for butterflies is starting to pay off.

21 species of butterflies were recorded here this year, one of them a species I haven't seen here before and a couple of them species that generally remain in isolated colonies, but which have somehow found themselves here. I am really looking forward to seeing what happens over the next few years.