Have you seen a painted lady this weekend? No, nothing to do with tattooed women but butterflies!
We had a couple of butterflies in our garden on Friday and I didn’t think too much of it …just presuming the lovely weather had brought them out. But then when walking past a neighbours garden this morning there were several butterflies flying around a flowering shrub. They’re painted ladies Dad my youngest daughter informed me (not sure how she knew). And she’s right of course!
You can read all about this mass immigration of  these butterflies on the Butterfly Conservation website (you can register your sighting too). In short, scientists had predicted such an immigration a few months ago and the good weather has encouraged the butterflies to arrive in the UK after a long flight from the Atlas Mountains of Morocco.  According to the Hilbre Bird Observation blog there were several thousand butterflies passing over the island yesterday.
How about you – have you seen any painted ladies where you are?
Yes – we’re in Meols and counted over 20 painted ladies on some of our plants over the weekend. There was a letter in the Daily Telegraph last week from people living in the south of England who’d been inundated with them last week. Very pretty they are too!
Hi Caroline – thanks for commenting and nice to hear the butterflies are in Meols too!