The day I leave my phone (camera) at home……

I was out on my bike this morning as I often am heading, of course, to a coffee shop!

From the cabins we have a cycle track 2 minutes away and this time I was heading to Buchlyvie rather than Aberfoyle. It is about 5 miles I think.

Most of the way down the track there were literally clouds of Painted Lady butterflies. It was absolutely amazing, beautiful, heartening and many other adjectives too. If you are staying in the cabins take a walk down the track and if you are local – get yourself down the track.

Why so many?

The recent mass appearance of painted ladies has nothing really to do with our weather. Instead, it indicates that conditions were good on the fringes of the Sahara in Morocco, where these butterflies came from. In 2009 we also saw a huge amount of these beautiful creatures.

The ones we are seeing now are actually the offspring of an earlier generation, which arrived in the UK back in the late spring. These butterflies are now feeding to boost their energy levels in preparation for flying south again.

Just simply nature at its best.