Long-tailed Blue {One frame}

On October 2, 2026October 2, 2026 By ArtyMissKIn PhotographyLeave a comment

Hello my friends!

This week I thought I’d post a new One Frame (that I took a few weeks back!) It was pretty cool actually, I was sitting is the garden, enjoying an afternoon of wonderful sunshine when I spotted a tiny little butterfly flittering around the verbena bonarensis, my first excited thought was ‘oh my god its a hairstreak’ and I quickly grabbed my camera and spent about twenty minutes following the butterfly around the garden.

The fluttery little thing actually turned out to be something called a Long-tailed blue (Lampides boeticus), which is an exotic European butterfly and super rare migrant to the UK that travels all the way from the Mediterranean. Apparently they have a wingspan of only 4cm and like to lay their eggs on Everlasting pea (Sweet pea), but sadly can’t survive the winters here, experts think that climate change is pushing more of them towards the UK.

It was quite a dull brown-blue colour which suggests it was a female!

I’m so over the moon to have seen this butterfly and that it found my Wildspace! I really hope you like this photo and that my nature filled posts spread a little bit of joy. Ever seen one of these before?

As always thanks for reading and have a wonderful week!

Floral folklore #4

On September 25, 2026October 2, 2026 By ArtyMissKIn PhotographyLeave a comment

Hello my friends!

It’s been a while since I’ve delved into plant folklore, so I figured why not look at three plants from my garden and see if they have any related quirky myths or tales (which of course the do!).

I’m beginning to think that all plants have some sort of use or story associated with them.

I love a pin cushion flower and while the normal sort are quite ‘flat’ looking Devil’s-bit scabious (Succisa pratensis) blooms into tiny purple pompoms – they attract all sorts of pollinators and are the host food plant for the caterpillars of the Marsh Fritillary butterfly (I’ve yet to see these ones!)

Continue reading →

Embroidered Butterfly #24, 25 & 26 {Brown Argus, Northern Brown Argus & Scotch Argus}

On September 18, 2026September 24, 2026 By ArtyMissKIn Art, Needlework BugsLeave a comment

Hello my friends!

A few weeks ago I posted some photos a summer Butterfly Conservation trip to a special MOD site called Penhale sands which is a special home for Dingy and Grizzled Skippers (super rare and are only found in this one place in the whole of Cornwall) but is also home to Red Admiral, Meadow Brown and Brown Argus.

It was amazing to see so many butterflies and Penhale Sands is outstandingly beautiful.

Now, in the UK we actually have three brown-coloured-argus-named butterflies, Brown Argus, Northern Brown Argus and Scotch Argus. Three beautiful little brown fluttery things and I decided to make one of each for my ever increasing collection of embroidered butterflies…

Continue reading →

Raising Painted lady Butterflies (2026 Edition)

On September 12, 2026September 18, 2026 By ArtyMissKIn Conservation, Photography, Raising Butterflies2 Comments

Hello my friends!

We are nearing the end of butterfly season for 2026 and so this week I’ve got a summer butterfly tale to tell you as we slowly plod on towards the end of the year.

On a normal year I spot maybe 40 Painted ladies in the garden, for 2026 I’d seen that many by the end of May!

I’m now into my forth summer of growing a nature garden for pollinators and many of my plants are now fairly well established – mainly the rudbeckia, daisies and thistles and the butterflies are finding the plants I’ve grown for them.

Back in June I actually saw Painted lady butterflies laying eggs on the thistles in my flowerbed (and was over the moon) the last time I raised these butterflies was back in 2023 when I bought the thistle plants and came home from the garden centre with hitchhikers (link at the bottom if you want to read about them!).

Continue reading →

Embroidered Butterfly #23 {Grizzled skipper}

On August 29, 2026September 18, 2026 By ArtyMissKIn Art, Needlework Bugs3 Comments

Greetings friends!

Firstly, if this looks familiar its because I scheduled this post for yesterday but forgot to change the photos 😂

Lets try again shall we…

I’ve got a new needlework butterfly to share with you this week! I recently met so many butterflies during my recent exploration of Penhale sands including the Brown Argus and really excitingly I spotted my very first Grizzled Skipper – a tiny black and white fella similar to the much more brown Dingy Skipper (#14 of my challenge, link at the bottom) so obviously I wanted to create one of these very special butterflies to add to my ever growing handmade collection.

This is #23 on my Embroidered Butterfly challenge the Grizzled Skipper – and isn’t one I expected to be making this year!!!

Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus malvae) is found in Britain and Ireland but is super rare, literally its only found on Penhale sands in the whole of Cornwall so spotting them is really special. Its black and white wings are covered with mottled patchwork markings and they have super fluffy bodies.

Continue reading →

Exploring Penhale Dunes {wildfowers and butterflies}

On August 21, 2026September 18, 2026 By ArtyMissKIn Photography3 Comments

Hello my friends,

One of the loveliest things about being a member of the Cornwall branch for Butterfly Conservation is that every year they host field trips all over the county and now that I’ve got my wheels I can pack up a lunch and head off into the wild with my fellow bug freaks whenever the feeling takes me (normal life things not withstanding!!)!

All of the trips look for specific butterflies, some that like woodland, or meadows or in the case of my recent trip to Penhale sands open grasslands.

Penhale sands (near to Perranporth, the best beach in the world) is owned by the MOD and Cornwall Wildlife trust its an amazing site that spans a whopping 620 hectares with Atlantic facing sand dunes and grasslands, the area is classed as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Its a place you can only go with an invitation and I always get rather excited when I get the chance to visit and I thought why not take you with me while I hunt for pretty butterflies!

Ready?

Lets go…

The trip started slightly overcast and our amazing guide Wildlife Trust ranger John Cripps was so good at lifting everyones spirits – butterflies are cold blooded and need the sun to warm up their flight muscles, so on a grey afternoon you aren’t likely to see that many. Thankfully by the time we had decanted into a smaller number of cars it had brightened up into a lovely morning.

Continue reading →

Embroidered Toy Story shirt

On August 9, 2026August 20, 2026 By ArtyMissKIn Photography6 Comments

Hey friends,

Following on from yesterdays snaps from Disneyland Paris post, I thought I’d share more details about my brothers embroidered Toy Story shirt!

My brother is obsessed with Pixar’s Toy Story and always has been, so I decided that as I finished my Alice jacket with time to spare I’d embellish his favourite denim shirt for our trip to the magic place.

Continue reading →

Disneyland Paris (a few holiday snaps!)

On August 8, 2026August 20, 2026 By ArtyMissKIn Photography2 Comments

Hello my friends,

Remember me??

I haven’t posted anything for like a month, partly because I was on holiday, partly because I had sooo many photographs to go through post-holiday and partly that its summer so I’ve been outside!

Ages ago I mentioned that my brother Milo and I were planning a once in a lifetime trip to Disneyland Paris and I thought to try and get myself back into the swing of posting that I’d look through some of my holiday snaps from our trip and pick 20 or so to post on here with a few snap shot memories.

Ready?

Lets go…

I thought it would be fun to kick things off with a photo of the Grand Magic Hotel, its possibly the cutest and pinkest hotel (especially seeing as its filled with magic) I would genuinely like to know how they create the Mickey Mouse face in flowers because its so pretty!

Continue reading →

Embroidered Butterfly #22 {Wall}

On July 3, 2026September 12, 2026 By ArtyMissKIn Art, Needlework Bugs4 Comments

Hello my friends!

A couple of weeks ago I shared a photography post celebrating the rare Wall butterfly. I was over the moon to not only spot this butterfly in my garden last summer but to also have found a pupa in the grass that was invading my patio!

This is literally the rarest butterfly I’ve ever seen in my Wildspace!

Super exciting, and of course I had to make one to add to my collection.

I decided to make only make a female as there isn’t masses of difference between the two sexes.

Continue reading →

Wall! (a super exciting tale!)

On June 19, 2026July 4, 2026 By ArtyMissKIn Conservation, Photography, Raising Butterflies7 Comments

Hey friends!

This week I’ve got a super special post for you, I’m really very excited about this one!!

But first lets go back to the glorious sunshine filled days of July 2025…

Last summer I met a whole bunch of Wall butterflies for the very first time, mainly while walking around the village – they seemed to have a colony in the old no longer used and derelict churchyard, but I wasn’t expecting to ever see one of these butterflies in my very own garden.

I always assumed any small-ish orange and brown butterfly in the garden was probably Meadow Brown or Gatekeeper so I wasn’t really chasing every single one I saw…big mistake when I realised my garden of wildflowers was attracting a slightly-rare butterfly I was over the moon.

Wall (Lasiommata megera) is similar in size (about 4.5cm) and colour to Gatekeeper, but is so much more patterned and I think looks more like a small fritillary butterfly. They like to bask in the sunshine on you guessed it walls.

Continue reading →