June 4, 2025 – Middleboro, MA

I went to a couple places in Middleboro, MA today to see what I could find. I don’t go there often, so I waited for a nice warm and sunny day. It was well into the 70’s and sunny, although hazy from the Canada wildfire smoke, I’m told.

The first place I went to was the Peter Oliver House which has trails behind it that lead to the Picone Farm fields which the town just recently bought. I had hoped for Least Skippers in the fields, but no luck with that. It is a little bit early, but I have seen them at this time in years past. As soon as I got on the trail, I came across a female Zabulon Skipper. A good sign, I thought…

Well, the rest of the trail, including the beginning portion where we see Red Admirals pretty regularly, had nothing. When I got to the field, I wasn’t overly impressed either. What usually has a lot of skippers at the very least, had only a few Tawny-edged Skippers and a couple Zabulon and Peck’s Skippers. I did have one Monarch flyover and found what iNat is telling me is an Argus Tortoise Beetle (photo above). Not much to speak of.

On the way back, I took a different side trail which is something that they have cut out since the last time I went.

This trail led to a different part of the field. As I got to the end of it, I did have a Red-spotted Purple fly over and land near me which was great since it was the first of the year for me.

In that part of the field, there was much of the same as the other part. A couple skippers and not much else.

From here, I went over to the Oliver Mill area to see what might be there. One Peck’s Skipper. I’m out.

I remembered there was a spot that is relatively new to the public nearby. It is called the Nemasket River Village Archaeological Preserve.

The area immediately looked cool with a lot of fields and nicely mowed paths.

I started up the trail and immediately saw some skippers which were a lot brighter orange than others I had seen. I assumed correctly that these were Long Dash Skippers. I saw several of them along the sides of the trail. They are a nice looking skipper and probably using the Vetch that is throughout the fields as a host plant. Just a guess.

I didn’t come across a lot of other species here, but the area looks to be certainly worth a revisit in the near future. I did find Zabulons, Peck’s, Pearl Crescents and a Common Ringlet. I also found one Baltimore Checkerspot caterpillar. That was a nice surprise.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings. The temperature is supposed to be well into the 80’s for the first time this year. Maybe it will pop out some nice new species!