9/8/25 - Appleton Farms, Miles River Floodplain - Ipswich, MA

[Paul Seaman]

Seeing Garry and Annie Kessler's recent MassLep reports of Bronze Coppers scattered across Middlesex County this week inspired me to search some places in Essex County in the hopes that they might be flying here too, and to see what else I could find. I spent a few hours wandering Appleton Farms, and a field in the floodplain of the Miles River owned by New England Biolabs located directly across the street. I didn't find any Bronze Coppers at either site, but I had fantastic views of tons of butterflies and was very pleasantly surprised by both the species numbers and diversity. I also ran into a huge Northern Watersnake along the way, which was exciting!

9/8/25 - New England Biolabs (Miles River Floodplain) - Ipswich, MA

This field (which is open to the public and which I very strongly encourage you to visit if you get a chance!) is quickly becoming one of my favorite places to explore and look for butterflies, and the insect numbers and diversity has impressed me! I have seen a few small patches of Smartweed (Polygonum amphibium) along the river, which is one of the documented host plants for Bronze Copper- so I am hopeful that they are present here too.

Common Ringlet 38x
Clouded Sulphur 6x
Zabulon Skipper 1x
Spicebush Swallowtail 1x
American Copper 2x
Cabbage White 1x
Gray Hairstreak 1x
Peck's Skipper 1x

9/8/25 - Appleton Farms - Ipswich, MA

Cabbage White 45x
Pearl Crescent 2x
Orange Sulphur 9x
Clouded Sulphur 6x
Black Swallowtail 6x
Peck's Skipper 6x
Monarch 3x
Zabulon Skipper 2x
Silver-Bordered Fritillary 11x
Eastern Tailed-Blue 1x
Gray Hairstreak 1x

Happy exploring!

Paul