
Given the good weather there are quite a lot of butterflies around this week. This one looks like an old one that has been in the wars, black faded and very ragged. I wonder what tales it could tell. My butterfly by month page is building nicely.

Given the good weather there are quite a lot of butterflies around this week. This one looks like an old one that has been in the wars, black faded and very ragged. I wonder what tales it could tell. My butterfly by month page is building nicely.

Short walk to Greenside reservoir this morning. Warm, mostly sunny. Lots of butterflies around.
I’d guess I saw over 200 ringlets; a lot of painted ladies & meadow browns. A few common blues & red admirals ,one small tortoiseshell & a white of some sort. A few fritillaries bright orange and zooming around, never posing. I saw one I’d never seen before. It look to me, after consulting my book & the web, like a small skipper. According to the same research this doesn’t seem to be where they are expected? Unfortunately my camera threw an error while I was trying to get a different angle.


#SilentSunday #Butterfly

Walk round Ardinning this afternoon. Cuckoos calling. Willow warblers & ravens heard. Corn bunting & stonechats seen & heard. Warm & breezy plenty of butterflies, mostly Orange Tips & Green-Veined whites, a Painted Lady. A few small red damselflies didn’t stay still although one landed on D’s hat.


Victoria Park this afternoon sunny and very warm. In a sheltered spot near fossil grove we watched 2 Speckled Woods spiral, jousting up and around for quite a while. A Red Admiral and a coupe of orange tip butterflies around too.

Ardinning this afternoon. Very sunny & bright. A few butterflies, mostly peacocks & some orange tips. A couple of peacocks spiralled up high. Cuckoos calling. At the bench beside the loch we heard a big splash. Looking round through the bushes we saw an osprey come out of the water & fly off.




Took the short walk to Greenside reservoir this morning. Lots of spring happening, bird song, especially chiffchaff & willow warbler. Heard blackcaps (confirmed with merlin) and finally saw some. A cuckoo calling, the first this year. A few butterflies around including one small tortoiseshell.

Kilpatrick Braes, the blackthorn here still in bud, later than others places I’ve been recently. Warm & sunny with a bit of a breeze. Few bumble bees out exploring the ground. Several butterflies, probably peacocks, rushed by. Lots of birds singing. Heard a green woodpecker a few times. Chiffchaffs mostly heard but saw a couple. More primroses opening, some mouse-ear cress. Larch starting to green & buds on a chestnut at the edge of the heather.

Rather a blurry photo, but the first peacock butterfly of the year for me. Saw quite a few on the Greenside Reservoir track this afternoon. A warm day, bumble bees flying.