6th: Very pleased to find a new species for me personally today - an Iolas Blue (Iolanda iolas)(photo of a male) - and very near to home, too.. The funny thing was that I was walking with a friend and just telling him about the Bladder Senna bush (Colutea arborescens) by the side of the path just ahead of us (photo) and the fact that it was the foodplant of the caterpillar of a blue butterfly, which feeds inside the seed pod. At that moment a larger-than-usual blue butterfly flew up from the bush and I thought to myself -"Yes, that must be an Iolas Blue!" Here is the underside to prove it (photo). I have passed the bush on countless occasions over the past 10 years and never seen this species.Three days later, I went to inspect the bush again (photo, photo) and found 2 females and 3 males there. (See species page for the photos). I was particularly pleased, because the butterfly doesn't seem to be present at all in the neighbouring region (Veneto) and it's certainly not common in Trentino. Here is a photo of a female Holly Blue, feeding just a few feet away from the Iolas Blues.
13th: In search of Chequered Skippers, Ringlets and Poplar Admirals. Only found the first... here is a photo of two of them together.
17th: I had 2 days free and I decided to drive into the neighbouring region (Veneto) to visit sites where there have been sightings of species that I have never seen before - in particular the Purple-shot Copper and the False Ringlet. The weather in the morning was cold and damp, certainly not good butterfly-hunting weather, but near to the Purple-shot Copper site I did find a Ringlet (photo)(which I failed to find 4 days ago) and a False Heath Fritillary (photo). When I finally got to the second site, I had to wait until 15.30 before the storms and rain cleared and I spent the next 3 hours walking around the marshes. Here are two photos showing the area (photo, photo). There were plenty of these Demoiselle Damselflies around (photo) but no False Ringlets, probably because it is slightly too early for them. However, a very interesting walk.
18th: A more successful day in a valley near Belluno with numerous sightings of Hungarian Gliders - a completely new species for me! Here are two views of the area. (photo, photo) The only problem was getting photos of the butterflies, which, when they appeared, glided continuously just above the high bushes, apparently hardly ever stopping to rest. Here is one that did stop in an accessible position (photo) and here is one of the underside, taken in my net (photo)! Apart from seeing N. rivularis, what impressed me was the number of Woodland Browns in the area - there were hundreds! Here are two of them that posed nicely for me (photo).
20th; Today I decided to do a higher altitude walk in my local area, parking the car at 1,370m asl and getting up to 2000m asl. On the way up, where I hoped to find Poplar Admirals, I was really surprised to come across this worn and tired-looking Camberwell Beauty (photo, photo), surely a survivor from hibernation, and also this female Northern Wall Brown (photo). I must say, I was a little disappointed with the number of butterflies around, because, although down in the valley summer is here, up on the mountains things seem to be very late.  The views from the highest point of my walk top were, as usual, wonderful (photo, photo), but almost the only butterflies flying were Small Tortoiseshells, Green-veined Whites and Alpine Heaths (photo). It was also coolish - 10-12 degrees - (earlier it had been only 5 degrees).
23rd: Much better weather today - hot and sunny, so I ventured onto another mountain top to see if any high altitude species were out yet. Here are some photos of  the spectacular scenery from near the top (photo, photo, photo) and one poor photo of a (quite early) Sooty Ringlet, the only interesting find of my excursion. Apart from the usual problem of a butterfly never settling when it's anywhere near you, this species seems to have the uncanny ability to just disappear among the stones, even when you know where it is! On more than one occasion I saw the butterfly land on the stony scree several metres away down from the path I was on, I clambered down to where it was, looking between the stones for any sign of it. Being sure it was somewhere there, I started removing the stones one by one without success. Eventually after several minutes searching I gave up, but just as I moved my foot to climb back up to the path, up it flew from wherever it was hiding! Frustrating! Here is the same Sooty Ringlet, I believe, this time on top of a stone on a scree above the path (the butterfly is in the centre of the photo). My final photo here is of the crest of the mountain showing the screes where this species breeds and flies (photo).
30th: Today I decided to drive for 90 minutes to the region of Veneto in a second attempt to find some False Ringlets (Coenonympha oedippus): Bingo! Although it  was a new species for me, I had looked at many images of the butterfly and I thought it would be very easy to recognise. However, I initially dismissed my first sighting of the butterfly as a slightly smallish Meadow Brown, both because of its similar colouring and its similar jumpy style of flying. On netting the butterfly, there was no doubt. Here are a couple of photos (photo, photo) and one of the area (photo) where I saw about eight butterflies, all of which, I believe, were males. (See main species page for other photos.) Also flying in the area were Woodland Graylings (photo), Large Wall Browns (photo) and Southern White Admirals (Zoomed shot). Other interesting wildlife included this chamois mountain goat (photo)
7th-9th: We are staying in a campsite in the extreme north-west of the Friuli-Venezia-Giulia region (what used to be the extreme north-east of the Veneto region) - a chance to go on some new walks with my wife and hopefully to discover some butterflies that I personally have not found so far in the Trentino-Alto Adige region. After an evening and night of rain, it was very windy and cold in the morning (8 degrees) when we started our high-altitude walk at 1,800m. Walking up the mountain, there was very little of interest except the breathtaking views all around (photo, photo). As the temperature rose, however, a few butterflies took to the wing and I spotted my first Alpine Blue (photo) and Dewy Ringlet (photo) of the year. We got up to 2,160 m, had some lunch and then continued on up to the mountain pass at 2,360m, where I was beginning to believe that the area had little to offer butterfly-wise. Encouraged by some other hikers to proceed along a slightly higher path near the ridge of the mountain basically to see the panorama (photo) and look across into the Austrian valleys (photo), what should fly into the air just near me but a group of male Cynthia's Fritillaries - instantly recognisable, but seeming a lot smaller than the images of them in books (photo)! Continuing along the path (photo), I discovered several more, plus two or three females sheltering / resting in the lush vegetation of the path. (Here is a photo of one. See main species page for others) And .... flying just below the same path, a couple of "different-looking" mountain ringlets, which when I managed to net one, I discovered to be a Blind Ringlet (photo, photo) - another new species for me! Here is a photo of a Marsh Fritilllary, which was also nearby and one of a Shepherd's Fritillary (photo). Feeling very satisfied, we descended,  but when nearly back to our starting point, a blue butterfly caught my attention and - yes, another new species for me - a Mountain Alcon Blue (photo).
Our second day of walking took us from 1,650m (arrived at via chair-lift) down to 1,520 m on what was supposed to be a 90-minute walk, but actually took us nearly 4 hours (well, it was down, down, down more,  up, down, up, up, up, up!). At the very start I found a Thor's Fritillary (photo) followed by some fairly fresh-looking Asian Fritillaries nectaring on some flowers (photo, photo) in a meadow (photo). I had only come across one example of these before in Trentino, but they seemed to be common in this area, as I came across 9 or 10 of them during the morning as we were walking through the woods (Here is a photo of one). Really beautiful butterflies when fresh (See species page for other photos)!
After spending our third morning in the village, I attempted to get up to altitude in the early afternnon, firstly by mountain-bike (I gave up pedalling after having climbed only 250m - too much hard work!) and then on foot (leaving the bike behind). At the beginning of the path a Water Ringlet - my first sighting of the species this year - attached itself to my sweaty boot (photo) and I spent a few minutes trying to actually get a photo of it (the butterfly was always at the wrong angle and I am not as supple as I used to be!) Anyway, I continued on up and eventually stopped in an interesting-looking meadow on the slope of the mountain just where the trees started to thin out at about 1,700m. (photo)  I thought "interesting" because in the first 3 minutes I saw another Blind Ringlet and in the distance an Apollo.  However, despite climbing up the slope to the beginning of the rocky part (here is a photo of the view from there), after 90 minutes I had seen nothing else of interest, so eventually decided to return to the campsite.
[Sorry if I have got behind with my excursion notes. I will try to post a few photos of the highlights of July and August as soon as possible.]
15th - 31st: In Croatia (not on the coast) with some very mixed weather - extremely hot for a few days, then cool, with some distinctly cold and wet periods. The most exciting days - butterfly-wise - was the first day on our journey to Zagreb and the penultimate day. As usual, whenever I stop in service stations on the motorway, I have a brief look around for any local butterflies. This particular day in the grassy-bushy part of the service station - I got lucky - a fabulous Purple Emperor! I disturbed it, it flew away but came back and settled long enough to get a few photos (photo of upperside) (photo of underside). The other occasion was in a park in Zagreb itself, where I knew Lesser Purple Emperors bred, and I was able to get some fairly good photos of the one butterfly that came within range of my camera. (photo, photo). During my time in the country, I also managed to find a spot in the country near Karlovac where there were Dryad butterflies everywhere- literally hundreds of them. Here is one (photo). The River Dobra (photo) was a good place to find both Large Coppers (photo) and this Hungarian Glider (photo). Other beautiful places like this (photo) and this (photo) were surprisingly unproductive, whereas the campsite swimming pool seemed to be very attractive - certainly for this Grizzled Skipper (photo). Other interesting features of the area are these special platforms in some of the village streets (photo), designed for storks to nest on top, as you can see in the photo.
10th-27th: Part of our holiday was spent in a village in Lazio about 100km south of Rome. It was a bit late in the season to find many interesting species in the area, considering that the weather had been up in the high 30's for over two months and most of the local terrain was dry and stony. I went on a couple of mountain walks (photo at 800m asl), where I basically saw what I had seen in previous years: Woodland Graylings, Tree graylings, Graylings, Southern Gatekeepers (photo), Spotted Fritillaries (photo, photo) the odd Cleopatra and dozens of Long-tailed Blues in one particular location. The place that provided most butterfly photo opportunities was an area of scrub, consisting mainly of blackberry bushes with various butterflies feeding on them. Here is a Grayling (photo) and here a Purple Hairstreak (photo taken nearby) - a butterfly which has eluded me for the past seven years. On the side of the hill, not far from the blackberry bushes there were a few Chalkhill Blues (photo) and Adonis Blues (photo) flying .  
28th: On our way back from Lazio, we stopped in Umbria for a night. Of interest was this Lesser Purple Emperor (photo of the underside) - the clytie form, so a pinkish mauve sheen on the upperside not a deep purple one like the photos of Apatura ilia taken in Zagreb, some Lang's Short-tailed Blues (photo) and this lovely dragonfly (photo).
5th: Back at work but at the weekend we took advantage of the good weather to go up into the mountains near Madonna di Campiglio  to do some serious walking and to see what butterflies were still around. Very few butterflies were to be found at low altitude but there were many more from 1,900m asl up to 2,300 - the highest I went. The species still on the wing were mainly worn-looking Common Brassy Ringlets (photo of a fresher one), Water Ringlets (photo) and Marbled Ringlets (photo), but near the end of the walk at 2000m asl - surprise, surprise - this magnificent Camberwell Beauty shot up from a gated bridge and settled on a nearby tree (photo). Here it is with its wings open (photo) and here are some views from the walk: (photo, photo, photo). The following day was in a different location but basically more of the same with the addition of this Pine Hawkmoth caterpillar (Sphinx pinastri) (photo).
12th: Another weekend trip into the mountains, this time to my favourite place - the Val di Rabbi (this time one of the lateral valleys off the main valley). We started walking at lunchtime with warmish but quite cloudy weather, having driven up to about 1,500m asl, and within one minute the first butterfly I saw was a Camberwell Beauty taking moisture from the ground (photo). A great start! We continued on upwards without seeing much of interest until I decided to return via a higher path, leaving my wife to return the way we had come. At the 2000m mark (here are 2 shots of the location photo, photo), the sun broke through the clouds and there were considerably more butterflies than lower down the mountain: Large Skippers (photo), Silver-spotted Skippers (photo) and, at last, some Dark Green Fritillaries (photo), most of which were very old and worn-looking. I used the words "at last", because I hadn't seen any all season up to that moment.
13th: Still in the Val di Rabbi and another walk up to 2,100+ metres. As usual, wonderful scenery (photo of the view on the way up), great exercise and several other very friendly walkers, but slightly disappointing regarding the range of species still on the wing. The extremely heavy storms about 3 weeks previously must have wiped out many of them. Interesting, though, were the number of butterflies on the Carlina (acaulis?) thistles. Here is, what I think is, a Common Brassy Ringlet on one flower (photo) and here are a couple of other flowers, close to each other, with no fewer than 19 butterflies between them both (photo). The butterflies, I believe, are a mixture of Common Brassy Ringlets and Water Ringlets - all rather worn individuals. (Please correct me if I am mistaken) Here is a single Marbled Ringlet, seen on the top part of the walk (photo).
10th and 20th: After a very rainy end of September and beginning of October, a couple of short excursions gave me the opportunity to see what butterflies were still on the wing. Here are some photos of a few of them - a Wall Brown (photo), a rather worn Dryad (photo), an Adonis Blue (photo) a Clouded Yellow (photo) and the almost ever-present autumn butterfly, a Red Admiral (photo). Given that the butterflies flying this late in the year have all been photographed earlier, to finish off 2020, I thought I would include this seaonal photo of my local hill (photo taken on 25th October) ...
29th: ... this photo taken nearby just over a month later (photo)....
13th: ... and this decidedly wintry scene from a nearby mountain taken on 13th December (photo).  
27th: After the cold weather and snow arrived during the first week of December, I didn't expect to see any more butterflies, but a day-and-a-half of sunshine brought out a Red Admiral on my local hill (even with night-time temperatures below freezing and a cold wind blowing.) The day after (the 28th), we got 30 cm of snow in the valley!