Another kinda damp and showery day today in keeping with the summer(?) so far! We went along to the Hermitage of Braid visitor centre for a workshop in identifying butterflies organised by the CEC ranger service. It was certainly an interesting experience and attended by a varied group of nice outdoor type folk!!
Another interesting twist was that the ranger, Jessica, was from the island of Corsica so full marks to her for putting up with the vagaries of the Scottish weather!! We started off with some classroom instruction on identifying butterflies and even doing some drawings - it was good fun but the two girls at our table were brilliant at drawing and their works of art made our drawings look like those of a 2 year old by comparison!!!! Anyway we learned some interesting facts and figures about butterflies and that there are 18 different species of butterly in Scotland!
After a break for lunch the group went out on to Blackford hill in search of some of our quarry but it was not the best of days for butterflies as it was a bit wet and showery. However the weather did brighten up a bit and lo and behold the sun came through and we eventually found our first butterfly which proved to be a small white - nothing too exotic but just nice to see one! We also found a small moth which could not be identified so that remained a mystery. It was nice to be out but after some more hunting around on the hill we called it a day as some squally showers came in and we headed back to the ranger centre. Also spotted a few birds while we were out including swifts, swallows and buzzards.
No comments:
Post a Comment