Painted Lady

Today's exciting news is that I saw a Painted Lady butterfly while I was walking the dog this morning. We were up on the top of Whiteleaf Hill in Bucks, next to the chalk cross and it flew up from the grass as we walked past. It headed off down the slope, so we followed it and watched it land. We made our way down the slope (not so easy with an over-excited puppy) and got a few photos of it. It flew off and landed a little way from us a couple of times, before disappearing over the really steep part of the slope.

They migrate here from North Africa and the Middle East, but numbers vary greatly from year to year. There are reports of lots in Spain, which it's hoped are making their way here for another bumper year.

I reported the sighting to the Butterfly Conservation Migrant Watch http://butterfly-conservation.org/612/migrant-watch.html. They have a few sightings so far this year, with most along the South Coast and South West. There are a handful so far around here.