Thursday 19 April 2018

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


4 comments:

eileeninmd said...

Hello, pretty butterfly. Love the Mergansers too. Happy Thursday, enjoy your day and weekend!

Lowcarb team member said...

Yes, we too have had some wonderful weather yesterday and today.
Lovely photograph of the butterfly.

All the best Jan

RG said...

Still waiting for first butterfly of the season here. Hope it too is a tortoiseshell

Sandy said...

It is a pretty one, too! I just came from a blog in Montana. My friend posted about seeing her first butterfly of the season. No butterflies here yet, but we have peepers in the pond.