Painted Lady

Spent some time showing people dragonflies today. It's always nice to share things like that. It rained all morning and there weren't huge numbers of dragons and damsels on the wing by the time my shift came around.

Fortunately, there were other things to look at, including this beautiful Painted Lady butterfly. This is a migratory species, so this insect may well have hatched out in north Africa or southern Europe! Amazing.

There were also loads of hoverflies around, including a species which looks like a Hornet, and loads of Marmalade Hoverflies. The latter are pretty tiny and inoffensive-looking. They too are migrants and probably crossed the North Sea to reach Blighty. I raise my glass to them.