06/06/2026
ISLE OF WIGHT & DORSET SPRING WILDLIFE BREAK
Wednesday 27th - Sunday 31st May 2026
An amazing tour on the south coast of the U.K. with many wildlife highlights.
We kicked off on the Isle of Wight with brilliant views of GLANVILLE FRITILLARIES along the coast plus WALL LIZARDS, RED SQUIRREL, EURASIAN HOBBIES, WESTERN CATTLE EGRETS plus some of the best views of CETTI’S WARBLERS ever.
It was then into the New Forest where we encountered EUROPEAN HONEY BUZZARD, COMMON REDSTARTS, DARTFORD WARBLERS, SPOTTED FLYCATCHERS, COMMON FIRECRESTS, stunning views of EUROPEAN NIGHTJARS and EUROPEAN WOODCOCK. PEARL-BORDERED FRITILLARY also seen well along the forest rides.
We moved on to Dorset where it was migrant insects galore with thousands of PAINTED LADY butterflies, plus we found two Helice CLOUDED YELLOWS and a male RED-VEINED DARTER! The moth trap at Portland Bird Observatory yielded three STRIPED HAWKMOTHS and the surrounding area produced MANX SHEARWATERS, NORTHERN WHEATEAR, NORTHERN GANNETS, LITTLE OWL, COMMON GUILLEMOTS, RAZORBILLS, NORTHERN FULMAR, EUROPEAN S**G and lots more. At nearby Ferry ridge we found SANDERLING, DUNLIN, COMMON RINGED PLOVERS and around 100 LITTLE TERNS.
We concluded the tour on the Dorset/Wiltshire border where we found a SMALL COPPER of the rare colour form Schmidtii plus ADONIS BLUE, SMALL BLUE, GREEN HAIRSTREAK, DINGY and GRIZZLED SKIPPER and yet another Helice CLOUDED YELLOW. Other goodies included FORESTER MOTH, CORN BUNTING, WILLOW WARBLER, YELLOWHAMMER plus a churring male EUROPEAN NIGHTJAR in the middle of the day!
It was a fantastic tour with amazing weather, a brilliant selection of wildlife plus a splendid group to spend the tour with!
