Painted ladies

During the past few weeks there has been a huge influx of Painted ladies arriving in the UK. These butterflies migrate here from the Atlas Mountains in Morocco - a journey of around 1000 miles.

They were first seen in Britain in large numbers on 21st May, but the first time we saw any here in Scotland was 29th May. That evening we went for a walk along a country path near our home and saw at least half a dozen of these beautiful butterflies.

Since then we have seen fewer, and most have been flying past at such a speed that it was hard to be sure of the species, but this one conveniently perched on a bluebell flower.

Another was feeding on buttercup flowers close to the canal.

Usually we would expect to see only one or two of these butterflies all summer.

You are asked to submit any sightings to Butterfly Conservation at

http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/migrantwatch

where you can also find out more about them.