Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly

From being unseasonably cold for most of the spring, yesterday and today have been unseasonably warm and beautifully sunny.

I walked along the Water of Leith from Slateford to Saughton Park today as part of the plant survey I'm doing of that part of the river this year. I was delighted to get my first proper butterfly sighting of the year (the only previous butterfly this year was a red admiral that fluttered past at quite a distance). Today's butterfly was a small tortoiseshell that posed beautifully on these coltsfoot flowers

and whereas yesterday I saw one female goosander on the river, today I saw a total of ten goosanders, including these two males